MIRACLES 
OF  SCIENCE 


EN 


Charles  Josselyn 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  HORSE 


There  Is  on  record  no  more  perfect 

example  of   fvointi'.M   than   the  horse, 

r     the    able     direction     of     Pro- 

•orn.     the 

'  Mif-r- 

ican    '  ftural   History,   the 

i    brought    to- 
geth. 

that    the    rompleio 

anr< 

i ving   nor  >r   all 

to  tr 

know,   originated    in 
;    the 

1-ig  cr^atu 
rt 


rler,  with  five  toes  on  feet  adapted  to 
the   soft,    springy  ground   of  the   for- 
fsts.     AS   the   wf-oded   area  began   to 
ase     in     extent,    the    horse    per- 
changed    his    habits,    becoming 
more    and    more   a   plains-living    ani- 
mal dependent  upon  speed  to  protect 
him    from    enemies.      Since    his    five-  •„ 

were   not  adapted   for  swift 
running   on   hard   ground,   the   middle 
toe  gradually  developed  the  hoof,  and 
digits     disappeared,     except 
for    the    so-called    "splint-bones"    in 
horses  as  we  know  them  today.   The 
ei    that    forced    the    evolution    of 
hor.-o     are     in    certain     respects 
Minilar    to    those    that    we    see    ef fee- 
in   human  evolution.— Roy  Chap- 
man  Andrews   in   Asia  Magazine   for 


FRIDAY,     JAN.      9,     1914, 


VOL.     CIII.      NO.     178 


::  THE  ROMANCES   OF   SCIENCE 


THE  STOEY  OF  HELIIJM. 


Q+  4 


«*» 


By  WILLIAM  JOSEPH  SHOW  ALTER. 

SCIENTISTS  now  declare  that,  after  all,  the  ancient  alchemists  were 
that  transmutation  is  not  a  fancy,  but  a  fact.  And  they  have  discovered 
the   philosopher's  stone  through  a  delicate  pair  of  scales  and  a  spec- 
troscope. Many  years  ago  it  was  discovered  that  the  sun  seemed  to  have  in  id 
every  substance  that  is  found  on  the  earth,  and  conversely,  that  the  earths 
seemed  to  contain  every  substance  that  was  in  the  sun.    The  spectroscope^ 
which  splits  up  rays  of  light  in  the  same  way  that  a  prism  gives  the  color^ 
of  the  rainbow,  told  the  scientists  that.    Then,  one  day,  an  astronomer  was 
studying  the  light  of  the  sun  through  his  spectroscope,  and  a  new  substance 
was  found  to  be  sending  its  rays  down  to  him.    He  called  it  helium. 

At  last,  said  the  astronomical  world,  something  has  been  found  in  the  sun 
that  is  not  found  on  the  earth.  How  can  we  account  for  that?  Well,  they 
simply  could  not  account  for  it.  Years  went  by  and  the  mystery  remained. 
Then,  on%  day,  Professor  Ramsay  of  England  was  experimenting  with  the  pro- 
duction of  nitrogen  and  found  that  it  had  different  weights  when  gathered 
from  different  sources — that  of  the  air  being  slightly  heavier  than  that  coming 
from,  other  sources.  Now  this  he  could  determine  only  with  a  pair  of  scales 

'  -iipr  JwT|'jf-u-vfiij[t»'uOqf  ">y  "jAmidAo"  Ji<t4CT.Wit™\^.  *"*   lik»   °    +i*iTVhanr»TnPr's:.  hlnw.to 

»in    Suijnp    }i!.ip!so.id    SB'   a«nf  A' 


Sutjinsuoo 
' 


Sauna 

•' 


Am  aoi  oOO' 

™ 

KT3AV      J 


}0tf 


lit 


sojauis    UBoipiiDii 
' 


KJ.IHJS      .   .  . 

aoj    apmu    O>JH     o.to.u 

jo    auioq    d\.[\    :JB    .IVSOA"    sumsuo    oqj    aoj 

I>UB   }oui    qni3   stuuoj,    ?I.IBJ   OJBQ   uop[of> 
lo    s.ioqtiioui    A'PB[    oin    jo    .loqnmn    .^.iBf    v  ' 


My 


samras  ravis 
01  saicnri 


uaojj   ^uB^stp   .S^SAV   OAV;   si 

^    'inojaoiis    B    SK 
-vq    uotiRtoossv    oypBcf    Qtn    jo 
-.i»AO    aqi    »oinw    01    sutBidxo 


eaoui  ptfsds 

i    Sut^uup    o;    9np    SBAV    sse.ions 
A'ui    ^tiSnoin    I    ji    put?    'HBqes-Bq    ui    [tij 
-assoons    ^soui    Aut    SBAI    uos-eas,-         ' 
•qnp    HBUUIOUIO   9tn    A'q 

SBAV     8  It     AlfAS.     SUOSl?9.l     otU     JO     OUO 

jo 


-smiuiof) 

S13U 

?o 


S  01 

l     JO 


.I911UIX       '92-BUllJ.§tICl 


uors 
UBUuprrt-)    ut 


SJPOII    A\O.J 
pjnoA\ 


ty. 
u- 
.he 

ow 
or- 
ks 
to 
Dn 

it 


BOTANIST  IMITATES 

LIFE'S  PROCESSES 

Artificial  Cell  Behaves  Like 

Growing  Plant  in  Many 

Respects 


TORONTO,  Ont.,  Jan.  2  (United 
Xews). — An  artificial  cell  has  been 
made  that  will  imitate  many  of  the 
processes  of  the  living  plant  by  Dr.  D. 
T.  Macdougal,  director  of  botanical  re- 
search of  the  Carnegie  Institution  of 
Washington,  and  exhibited  before  the 
American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science. 

It  was  shaped  like  a  fat  candle  and 
consisted  of  a  tube  of  clay,  wood  or 
paper,  lined  with  a  mixture  of  gela- 
tinous substances  and  soap  and  filled 
with  water. 

Such  a  cell  will  behave  like  a  plant 
cell  filled  with  real  protoplasm  in  ab- 
sorbing and  giving  off  water  in  oppo- 
sition to  osmotic  pressure,  and  will 
even  select  certain  salts  out  of  solu- 
tion just  as  a  plant  picks  out  its 
proper  food.  Chemists  are  unable  to 
account  for  this  strange  action  6n  the 
part  of  the  man-made  cell. 

Dr.  J.  P.  McMurrich,  professor  of 
anatomy  of  the  University  of  Toronto, 
was  elected  president  of  the  associa- 
tion. It  was  decided  to  hold  the  next 
meeting  in  Boston  and  the  1923  meet- 
ing in  Cincinnati. 


AVIATION   RECORDS  SMASHED 

American  Flyers  Proved  Their  Supremacy 
During  Last  Year 

AS  a  fitting  climax  to  the  achievements  of  Ameri- 
can aviators  in  1921,  during  which  time  three 
other  world  records  were  made  by  Yankee  birdmen, 
Edward  Stinson  of  San  Antonio  and  Lloyd  Bertaud 
of  San  Francisco,  Friday,  set  a  new  world's  record 
for  continuous  flight  in  a  heavier  than  air  machine. 
The  men  flew  without  a  stop  for  26  hours,  1 9  min- 
utes and  35  seconds.  The  previous  record  was  24 
hours,  19  minutes  and  7  seconds. 

The  other  three  records  established  during  the 
year  were:  a  monoplane  flying  boat  reached  an  alti- 
tude of  19,500  feet  with  four  passengers,  establish- 
ing an  efficiency  and  passenger  record  for  a  ship  of 
its  class;  Lieutenant  J.  A.  McCready  drove  an  air- 
plane into  the  air  37,800  feet,  shattering  all  previous 
altitude  records,  and  Bert  Acosta,  in  a  navy  racer, 
flew  176.7  miles  an  hour  over  a  150-mile  course. 

The  new  year  probably  will  witness  material  ad- 
vances in  aviation,  especially  along  commercial  lines. 
. « . 


Ace  Rickenbacker 
Hangs  Up  Record 
Flight,  Oakland 
To  San  Diego 

j_  _  •          }  i 

Makes    Aerial     Non-Stop 

Trip   to   Southern    City, 

470  Miles,  in  3  Hours 

and  8  Minutes 

SAN  DIEGO,  March  26. — Eddie 
Rickenbacker,  noted  American  airman, 
today  flew  from  Oakland  to  San 
Diego  in  the  remarkably  fast  time 
of  Z  hours  and  8  minutes,  going  at 
a  speed  which  Rickenbacker  tonight  j 
said  he  believed  had  established  a 
record  for  flights  between  those  two 

e' 


c 


'00*56$ 
pun 

puB  uootuayy 


pd^paip  pUB  uiBfd  ui 

J7  UI   SppOUI 


B  3UIJOOUJL  JO  S^OOJ  J 
JO     S3SS3JQ 


S3UI10DUJ 


PUB 

0} 

•OS' 
pue 


Largest  Radio 
Plant  in  World 
For  Long  Island 


NEW  YORK,  Aug.  2.— (By 
Universal  Service.) — At  a 
cost  of  $10,000,000  the  Radio 
Corporation  of  America  will 
build  the  world's  largest  radio 
plant,  capable  of  sending  1,000 
words  a  minute  and  circling  the 
globe,  on  a  6,400-acre  tract  near 
Rocky  Point,  Long  Island. 

The  station,  when  completed, 
will  be  five  times  as  powerful 
and  efficient  as  the  world's 
greatest  plants  today,  located  at 
Nauen,  Germany,  and  Bordeaux, 
France. 

According  to  first  announce- 
ments of  the  plan  made  public, 
contracts  for  all  construction 
materials  are  being  let  and  the 
building  stage  has  practically 
been  reached. 


THE   CURTISS   HYDROAEROPLANE 


MIRACLES  OF  SCIENCE:- 


BY 

HENRY  SMITH  WILLIAMS,  M.D. 


ILLUSTRATED 


HARPER   £r  BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 

MCMXIII 


COPYRIGHT.    1913.    BY   HARPER   ft    BROTHERS 

PRINTED   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES   OF   AMERICA 

PUBLISHED    OCTOBER.     1013 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 1 

I.  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORLD 5 

II.  CHARTING  THE  UNIVERSE 29 

III.  WEIGHING   THE  WORLDS 60 

IV.  EXPLORING  THE  ATOM 101 

V.  JUGGLING  WITH  LIFE 142 

VI.  THE  CREATION  OF  SPECIES 170 

VII.  MASTERING  THE  MICROBE 208 

VIII.  BANISHING  THE  PLAGUES 222 

IX.  WORKING  WONDERS  WITH  A  TOP 255 

X.  THE  CONQUEST  OF  TIME  AND  SPACE 279 

XI.  OUR  WONDERFUL  GENERATION 319 

INDEX  329 


615971 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  CURTISS  HYDROAEROPLANE Frontispiece 

A  SPIRAL  NEBULA Facing  p.  8 

"NETWORK"  NEBULA "  20 

PROFESSOR  SVANTE  ARRHENIUS  IN  His  STUDY  ....  "  26 

THE  GROUP  OF  THE  PLEIADES  OR  "LITTLE  DIPPER"  .  "  56 

PROFESSOR  JACQUES  LOEB  IN  His  LABORATORY  ...  "  144 

PROFESSOR  G.  H.  F.  NUTTALL "  158 

PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  PATTEN  WORKING  WITH  FOSSIL 

OSTRACODERMS 176 

ANTI-TYPHOID  INOCULATION "  210 

PROFESSOR  PAUL  EHRLICH  IN  His  LABORATORY  ...  "  222 
DRAWING  BLOOD  FROM  THE  VEIN  OF  A  HORSE  TO  SECURE 

DIPHTHERIA  ANTITOXIN ';  228 

TRAPPING  THE  TYPHOID  FLY  .  . "  250 

Two  VIEWS  OF  THE  SPERRY  SHIP-STABILIZING  GYROSCOPE  ' '  270 
UPPER  FIGURE:  THE  FARMAN  HYDROAEROPLANE;  LOWER 

FIGURE:  A  FRENCH  FLYING-BOAT "  302 

FRENCH  HYDROAEROPLANES  OF  MONOPLANE  AND  BIPLANE 

TYPES "  304 

ANESTHESIA  AND  ASEPTIC  SURGERY "  324 

I. 

y 

t  re< 
Sure) 

Vbli 


Plane  Bringing  Mail 
To  S.  F.  7s  at  Chicago 

CHICAGO,  July  30. — Monoplane  No. 
3,  which  left  Cleveland  at  3:15  P.  M. 
today  on  the  second  leg  of  the  trans- 
continental mail  flight,  reached  here 
at  6:40  P.  M.  tonight,  central  time. 
The  plane  did  not  land  at  the  regular 
aerial  mail  flying  field  and  it  was  not 
known  that  it  had  arrived  until  Lieu- 
tenant E.  Mons,  pilot,  and  three  pas- 
sengers were  found  registered  later 
at  a  local  hotel. 

The  plane  probably  will  leave  for 
Omaha  tomorrow  morning,  accord- 
ing to  present  plans,  arriving  there 
by  afternoon  and  leaving  Monday  for 
San  Fran  MPCO. 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

INTRODUCTION 

WE  often  hear  it  said  that  the  age  of  miracles  is 
past.  This  is  a  mistake.  The  age  of  miracles 
is  the  twentieth  century.  But  the  miracles  that  are 
now  being  performed  are  being  done  in  accordance 
with  verifiable — even  though  recondite — laws  of  Na- 
ture, and  in  the  name  of  Science. 

For  example,  consider  the  feat  of  weighing  and 
measuring  not  merely  our  world  but  worlds  that  lie 
so  remote  from  us  in  the  far  places  of  the  universe 
that  the  light  coming  from  them — though  compassing 
space  at  the  rate  of  186,000  miles  a  second — requires 
a  score  of  years  to  reach  us.  The  astronomer  not 
only  weighs  and  measures  these  distant  worlds,  but 
he  even  tests  their  chemical  composition  almost  as 
definitely  as  if  he  held  some  of  their  substance  in  his 
hand.  And  the  chemicals  that  he  tests  are  located  so 
many  billions  of  miles  away  that  the  mere  figures 
that  record  their  distance  seem  meaningless. 

Surely  this  seems  miraculous.  It  would  be  unbe- 
lievable if  we  did  not  know  it  to  be  true. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  the  physicist  investi- 
gates the  infinitely  little.  He  makes  visible  with  his 

I 


*     .MJRA£L;E:S:  OF   SCIENCE 

.sleeks  that  .lie  thousands  of  times  beyond 
the  naked-eye*  vision."  "Then  he  analyzes  the  smallest 
visible  speck  into  billions  of  molecules;  and  dissects 
each  molecule  into  its  component  atoms;  and  each 
atom  into  a  miniature  planetary  system  of  perhaps 
1,800  electrons.  Billions  of  billions  of  these  electrons 
could  find  lodgment  on  that  disputed  resting  place  for 
the  feet  of  mediaeval  angels — the  point  of  a  needle. 
Yet  the  physicist  measures  these  unthinkably  minute 
units  of  matter;  weighs  them;  tests  the  speed  of  their 
flight  and  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  electric 
charge  they  bear. 

And  this  also  seems  miraculous, — nay  is  miraculous. 
It  is  surpassingly  wonderful. 

Again  the  biologist  juggles  with  life  in  a  way  hither- 
to supposed  impossible.  He  causes  unfertilized  germ 
cells  to  grow  and  develop.  He  splits  the  embryo  of 
a  living  animal  into  two  parts,  four  parts,  eight  parts, 
and  produces  two  or  four  or  eight  living  creatures 
from  an  egg  that  seemed  predestined  to  produce  but 
one.  He  cuts  pieces  of  tissue  from  a  dead  chicken, 
puts  them  in  his  artificial  incubator  and  causes  them 
to  take  on  new  life. 

If  that  does  not  savor  of  the  miraculous,  words 
must  have  changed  their  meanings. 

These  things,  then,  and  their  like  are  miracles  of 
modern  science.  They  differ  from  the  fabled  miracles 
of  tradition  in  that  they  are  not  done  in  defiance  of 
law,  but  in  the  investigation  and  interpretation  of 
law.  But  they  lead  us  so  far  beyond  what  formerly 
seemed  the  bounds  of  the  possible  that  they  almost 
challenge  belief. 

2 


INTRODUCTION 

When  the  scientific  worker  does  his  miracle,  how- 
ever, he  publishes  his  method,  and  another  worker 
may  follow  him  and  duplicate  his  results.  There  are 
no  esoteric  methods,  no  secret  processes,  in  the  world 
of  inductive  science.  Nor  is  there  much  that  may 
not  be  interpreted  in  untechnical  language  and  made 
of  interest  to  the  general  reader  without  sacrifice  of 
accuracy.  Such  an  interpretation  I  shall  endeavor  to 
present  in  the  ensuing  pages,  which  will  in  effect  take 
up  the  record  where  my  Story  of  Nineteenth  Century 
Science  left  it,  and  describe  the  progress  of  the  past 
decade. 

Every  period  of  history  is  a  transition  period.  The 
happenings  of  to-day  grow  out  of  the  events  of  yester- 
day, and  lead  on  to  the  developments  of  to-morrow. 
Arbitrary  dividing  lines,  to  mark  off  periods  and 
epochs,  are  largely  of  man's  creation. 

Yet  as  we  look  back  on  the  history  of  human  prog- 
ress, we  see  that  great  events  tend  to  cluster.  Cer- 
tain generations  seem  to  have  been  times  of  stasis; 
while  other  generations  seem  to  vibrate  with  the 
energy  of  creative  effort.  Here  and  there  a  decade 
stands  out  as  marking  a  turning  point  in  human 
thought. 

Such  a  vital,  germinative  epoch,  I  believe,  is  that 
with  which  we  are  here  concerned.  The  first  decade 
of  the  twentieth  century  will  always  be  memorable  as 
a  time  of  great  activity  in  the  wide  field  of  natural 
sciences,  theoretical  and  applied.  When  the  achieve- 
ments of  divers  workers  in  this  domain  have  been, 
passed  in  review,  it  will  be  clear,  I  think,  that  the 
present  epoch  must  take  rank  with  the  half  dozen 

3 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

or  so   great  transition  periods   that   are  landmarks 
in  the  history  of  the  growth  of  civilization. 

Our  first  concern  is  with  the  new  knowledge  of  the 
universe  of  which  our  solar  system  is  an  infinitesimal 
part,  and  with  the  wonderful  implications  of  that 
knowledge.  In  subsequent  chapters  I  shall  review 
the  progress  of  a  decade  in  the  fields  of  physics  and 
chemistry,  of  biology  and  medicine,  and  of  practical 
invention  and  the  mechanical  arts. 


THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE   WORLD 

/CENTURY  marks  are  of  course  only  arbitrary 
v^f  divisions  of  time.  But  they  enter  so  constantly 
into  human  calculations,  that  it  is  difficult  not  to  re- 
gard them  as  actual  mile-stones  of  progress.  So  it 
seems  altogether  fitting  that  a  brand  new  explanation 
of  the  origin  of  the  solar  system  should  have  been 
one  of  the  earliest  contributions  to  theory  and  knowl- 
edge at  the  beginning  of  the  twentiet  century. 

It  is  a  doubly  auspicious  augury  that  the  idea 
should  have  come  out  of  America — as  the  first  great 
contribution  to  the  theory  of  world-making  that  has 
originated  in  the  western  hemisphere. 

The  new  theory  found  its  origin,  or  at  least  its 
chief  tangible  support,  in  the  observations  of  a  famous 
American  astronomer,  Professor  Keeler,  then  direc- 
tor of  the  Lick  Observatory.  This  keen-eyed  ob- 
server devoted  the  last  two  years  of  his  life  (1898- 
1900)  to  the  special  investigation  of  that  curious 
member  of  the  celestial  family,  the  nebula.  Working 
with  the  famous  three-foot  telescope  known  as  the 
Crossley  reflector,  Keeler  found  that  the  universe  is 
thickly  tenanted  with  nebulae.  He  estimated  that  at 
least  120,000  of  these  bodies  lay  within  the  range  of 
his  vision  as  aided  by  the  three-foot  mirror.  Several 
times  that  number  are  probably  visible  in  the  five- 

5 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

foot  reflector  since  then  installed  at  the  Mt.  Wilson 
observatory. 

Of  course  nebulae  were  no  new  discovery.  A  cer- 
tain number  of  them  had  been  observed  since  tele- 
scopes were  invented.  One  or  two  are  even  faintly 
visible,  like  misty  stars,  to  the  naked  eye.  But  the 
importance  of  Professor  Keeler's  observations  con- 
sisted (1)  in  showing  the  vast  abundance  of  these 
curious  structures,  and  (2)  in  revealing  the  very  strik- 
ing fact  that  a  large  preponderance  of  the  nebulae 
have  a  spiral  structure.  As  the  photographic  film 
was  made  to  supplement  direct  vision,  revealing  ten- 
uosities  of  nebular  structure  that  the  eye  cannot  de- 
tect, it  beca'me  increasingly  evident  that  the  spiral  is, 
so  to  say,  the  typical  form  of  nebulae  as  a  class.  And 
this  suggested  some  highly  interesting  questions  as 
to  method  of  world  building,  as  will  appear  in  a 
moment. 

Quite  aside  from  their  relation  to  world-making, 
however,  these  spiral  nebulae  are  telescopic  objects 
of  peculiar  picturesqueness.  They  seem  to  be  great 
luminous  whirlpools  of  incandescent  matter.  Perhaps 
to  the  average  eye  they  suggest  more  than  anything 
else  the  popular  and  familiar  type  of  fireworks  called 
the  pin-wheel. 

If  you  partially  close  your  eyes  and  look  at  the 
photograph  of  a  spiral  nebula  (a  particularly  good 
one  is  here  reproduced)  you  can  easily  imagine  that 
it  represents  a  whirligig  of  fire,  two  revolving  points 
making  a  pair  of  entwined  incandescent  spirals,  and 
the  sputtering  flames  sending  out  clouds  of  sparks 
and  luminous  smoke  in  an  ever-widening  circle. 

6 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

Now  in  point  of  fact,  something  very  like  this  is 
the  interpretation  which  the  astronomer  puts  upon 
the  spiral  nebula.  He  believes  that  its  central  lumi- 
nous nucleus  is  an  incandescent  gaseous  body  like  our 
sun,  and  that  the  two  spirals  that  lead  out  from  it, 
with  their  irregularly  scattered  foci  of  light,  and  their 
filmy  veils  of  luminous  smoke,  represent  matter  that 
has  burst  forth  from  the  central  body,  and  that  is 
now  revolving  about  the  central  axis  very  much  as 
the  pin-wheel  revolves  about  its  central  pin.  Only 
of  course  the  axis  in  this  case  is  an  imaginary  body, 
like  the  axis  of  our  sun  or  the  earth's  pole,  and  the 
span  of  the  entire  nebula  is  to  be  measured  in  un- 
thinkable millions  of  miles. 

There  is  a  nebula  in  the  constellation  Andromeda 
that  is  estimated  to  be  so  wide  that  light  requires  at 
least  eight  years  to  span  it.  Its  distance  across  is 
at  least  five  hundred  thousand  times  the  earth's  dis- 
tance from  the  sun.  It  is  faintly  visible  to  the  na- 
ked eye. 

Regardless  of  size,  however,  what  gives  the  spiral 
nebula  interest  from  the  present  standpoint  is  the  fact 
that  nebulae  have  long  been  regarded  as  the  matrix 
out  of  which  solar  systems  such  as  ours  are  developed. 

For  about  a  hundred  years  astronomers  had  held 
as  stock  doctrine  the  theory  of  Laplace,  according  to 
which  our  solar  system  originated  from  a  super- 
heated gaseous  globe  which  contracted  as  it  cooled, 
and  from  time  to  time  threw  off  rings  of  its  equatorial 
substance  that  became  planets. 

But  Professor  Keeler's  nebulae  seemed  to  contra- 
dict this  theory.  The  spiral  nebula  quite  obviously 

7 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

is  not  a  uniformly  gaseous  mass.  There  is  filmy,  ten- 
uous matter  permeating  its  structure,  but  its  main 
substance  seems  to  be  composed  of  more  or  less  dis- 
crete nodules  or  nuclei. 

THE  SPIRAL  NEBULA  AS  MOTHER  OF  WORLDS 

Professor  Keeler  himself  noted  this  discrepancy, 
but  it  remained  for  Professor  T.  C.  Chamberlin,  of 
the  University  of  Chicago,  and  his  younger  colleague, 
Professor  T.  R.  Moulton,  to  take  the  matter  up,  and 
to  develop  a  new  theory  of  world-making  based  on 
observation  of  the  spiral  nebula,  but  harmonized  with 
all  the  new  facts  of  astronomy  and  geology  that  had 
come  to  contradict  the  old  hypothesis. 

The  new  theory  assumes  that,  the  typical  spiral 
nebula,  as  revealed  to  us  by  the  telescope,  is  in  point 
of  fact  the  parent  structure  of  a  solar  system  such  as 
ours.  Stated  otherwise,  it  assumes  that  our  solar  sys- 
tem was  once  a  spiral  nebula  differing  only  in  size 
from  any  one  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  such 
bodies  that  still  tenant  the  universe.  It  further  as- 
sumes that  the  clustered  masses  to  be  seen  here  and 
there  along  the  arms  of  the  spiral  nebula  (knots  in 
the  skein,  Professor  Chamberlin  has  suggestively 
called  them)  are  nuclei  out  of  which  will  ultimately 
develop  a  group  of  planets  more  or  less  similar  to 
those  that  constitute  the  sun's  family. 

A  spiral  nebula  then,  in  this  view,  is  a  system  of 
worlds  in  the  making.  The  central  nucleus  is  the 
future  sun.  Various  of  the  spots  that  lie  along  the 
arms  of  the  spiral  are  the  nuclei  of  future  planets. 
Professor  Chamberlin  calls  nuclei  of  all  sizes  "plane- 

8 


A    SPIRAL   NEBULA 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

tesimals"  because  they  are  supposed  to  be  revolving 
in  independent  orbits,  like  miniature  planets.  Hence 
the  name  "planetesimal  theory." 

It  is  obvious  at  a  glance  that  the  larger  nuclei — 
bigger  fragments  of  world  stuff — make  up  the  struc- 
ture of  the  spiral  arms.  It  should  be  explained  that 
matter  is  not  streaming  along  these  arms  as  might 
be  supposed,  but  that  the  entire  structure  is  revolving 
as  if  it  were  a  solid  body.  The  larger  nuclei,  however, 
necessarily  exert  a  gravitational  influence  over  the 
smaller  planetesimals  in  their  neighborhood;  hence 
an  incessant  shower  of  smaller  particles  will  fall 
against  each  larger  nucleus  and  this  augments  its  size 
and  its  gravitational  power. 

As  time  goes  on,  each  of  these  growing  nuclei  will 
(through  gravitation)  suck  in  the  matter  from  the 
space  about  it,  as  a  vacuum  cleaner  sucks  in  dust,  un- 
til ultimately  each  larger  body  will  be  revolving  in  a 
clear  space. 

Thus  the  myriads  of  planetesimals  will  have  been 
aggregated  into  a  small  number  of  planets;  and  the 
spiral  nebula  will  have  been  developed  into  a  planet- 
ary system.  The  original  central  nucleus  of  the 
nebula,  having  drawn  to  itself  the  cloud  of  minor 
planetesimals  in  its  neighborhood,  becomes  a  de- 
tached central  sun. 

According  to  this  theory,  then,  our  earth,  in  com- 
mon with  its  sister  planets,  was  never  a  gaseous  ring, 
nor  yet  a  liquid  globe ;  but  was  built  up  about  a  more 
or  less  solid  nucleus  by  a  perpetual  meteoric  bom- 
bardment. 

Larger  planets  of  our  system  may  have  gathered 
2  9 


MIRACLES   OF  SCIENCE 

matter  so  rapidly,  thanks  to  their  greater  gravitation- 
al power,  as  to  superheat  their  substance  to  the  stage 
of  liquidity  or  gaseousness.  Such  is  still  the  condition 
of  Jupiter  and  Saturn,  and  probably  also  of  Uranus 
and  Neptune.  But  our  earth  and  the  other  smaller 
planets  were  probably  from  the  beginning  solid  in 
structure,  though  doubtless  developing  a  high  interior 
temperature,  through  impact  and  compression.  Their 
growth  would  be  decreasingly  rapid  as  the  outlying 
planetesimal  matter  within  their  sphere  was  more 
nearly  exhausted.  But  their  growth  continues,  in  a 
minor  degree,  even  now;  for  it  is  well  known  that  the 
earth  sweeps  up  something  like  a  hundred  million  me- 
teors each  day, — these  meteors  being,  supposedly,  be- 
lated fragments  of  the  original  spiral  nebula.  Occa- 
sionally a  larger  fragment  of  world-stuff  in  the  form 
of  a  giant  meteorite  falls  into  our  atmosphere,  and 
finds  at  last  a  resting  place  on  the  earth. 

THE  DISCONCERTING  CONDUCT  OF  PHOEBE 

"Give  a  dog  a  bad  name  and  you  soon  hang  it," 
says  the  old  proverb.  It  seems  to  be  much  the  same 
with  a  theory.  Once  you  challenge  it  with  a  discord- 
ant fact  or  two,  new  evidence  against  it  begins  to  crop 
up  on  every  side.  So  it  is  not  strange  that  just  as 
Professors  Chamberlin  and  Moulton  were  challenging 
the  theory  of  Laplace,  a  very  striking  piece  of  evi- 
dence against  the  theory  should  have  been  brought  to 
light  from  a  quite  unexpected  quarter. 

The  new  evidence  was  secured  by  another  famous 
American  astronomer,  Professor  W.  H.  Pickering. 
While  examining  a  star  photograph  made  at  the  ob- 

10 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

servatory  established  by  Harvard  University  at  Ara- 
quipa  in  South  America,  Professor  Pickering  noticed 
a  hitherto  undescribed  minute  star  lying  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  planet  Saturn.  He  strongly  suspected 
it  of  being  a  new  satellite.  But  he  had  not  the  time 
to  follow  up  the  course  of  the  little  body  at  the  mo- 
ment, and  it  was  not  until  1904  that  he  rediscovered 
it,  and  by  noting  its  shift  of  position  from  night  to 
night,  proved  that  it  is  really  a  far-outlying  moon  of 
Saturn. 

To  this  new  found  niece  of  old  Mother  Earth,  Pro- 
fessor Pickering  gave  the  name  of  Phoebe. 

Now  Saturn  was  already  known  to  be  provided  with 
an  abundant  family,  eight  moons  having  previously 
been  recognized  in  addition  to  the  unique  system  of 
rings.  Therefore  the  advent  of  this  ninth  satellite 
would  not  have  created  any  great  sensation  in  the  as- 
tronomical world  had  it  not  been  made  evident  that 
Phoebe  is  behaving  in  a  most  anomalous  manner.  Not 
only  has  she  taken  up  her  position  at  a  vast  distance 
from  her  parent  orb,  but  she  is  actually  revolving  in 
opposite  direction  to  the  direction  of  rotation  of 
Saturn  and  the  orbits  of  revolution  of  all  the  other 
moons.  A  tenth  moon  discovered  still  more  recently 
by  Professor  Pickering  is  following  the  accepted 
course ;  so  Phoebe's  eccentric  conduct  is  all  the  more 
emphasized. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  according  to  the  hypothesis 
of  Laplace  each  satellite  has  been  spun  off  from  the 
equatorial  belt  of  its  parent  planet,  and  hence  must 
obviously  go  on  revolving  in  the  direction  of  the  par- 
ent body's  rotation.  Our  moon  follows  this  rule;  so 

IX 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

do  the  four  moons  of  Mars,  the  five  moons  of  Jupiter 
that  were  then  known,  and  the  eight  previously 
known  satellites  of  Saturn.  The  rings  of  Saturn  had 
also  been  proved  to  spin  about  in  the  same  way;  in- 
deed, the  system  of  Saturn  had  often  been  pointed  to 
as  in  itself  presenting  what  might  almost  be  called  a 
working  model  of  the  Laplacian  hypothesis  of  worlds 
in  the  making. 

And  now  came  this  ninth  satellite,  like  a  broken 
cog  in  the  wheel,  to  interfere  with  the  harmonious 
arrangement  of  this  pleasing  mechanism.  Phoebe  is 
but  an  inconsequential  body  as  to  mere  size.  And  she 
is  so  distant  from  us  that,  as  Professor  Poor  esti- 
mates, to  see  her  at  all  puts  a  test  on  our  telescopes 
equivalent  to  what  would  be  required  if  one  were  to 
stand  in  New  York  and  attempt  to  watch  a  humming 
bird  flitting  about  the  flower  beds  in  the  garden  of  the 
Capitol  at  Washington. 

Yet  this  one  tiny  satellite  moving  in  reverse  order 
seemed  to  disprove  the  entire  theory  as  to  the  origin 
of  worlds. 

For,  be  it  understood,  exceptions  do  not  prove  rules 
in  the  scientific  world — they  disprove  them.  This 
single  refractory  little  satellite  would  upset  the  nebu- 
lar hypothesis  more  convincingly  than  all  Professor 
Chamberlin's  reasoning, — unless  a  way  could  be 
found  to  explain  its  anomalous  conduct. 

HAS  THE  WORLD  TURNED  UPSIDE  DOWN.3 

But  mathematicians  are  resourceful  in  sustaining 
accepted  hypotheses,  and  of  course  the  old  theory  was 
not  to  be  given  up  without  debate.  More  than  one 

12 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

explanation  was  put  forward  that  might  conceivably; 
account  for  Phoebe's  eccentricity.  In  particular  Pro- 
fessor Pickering  himself  explained  it  picturesquely 
by  assuming  that  Saturn  had  originally  rotated  in  the 
reverse  direction,  but  that  subsequent  to  the  detach- 
ment of  the  ninth  satellite  the  planet  had  turned  com- 
pletely over  owing  to  what  is  called  the  precessional 
effect  of  the  sun's  gravitational  pull  on  its  bulging 
equator,  which  acted  as  a  sort  of  tidal  brake. 

You  can  illustrate  the  effect  very  clearly  if  you  will 
experiment  with  a  kind  of  top  or  gyroscope  that 
whirls  in  so-called  gimbal  rings.  This  top  will  spin 
for  a  long  time  without  changing  its  direction  of  axis 
if  not  interfered  with.  But  if  you  touch  your  ringer  to 
its  rim  (tidal  brake)  you  will  cause  it  to  twist  to  one 
side,  and  as  you  continue  the  pressure  you  will  see  the 
top  turn  completely  over  and  remain  there  (the  ob- 
struction being  removed)  spinning  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection to  that  which  it  had  at  first. 

This  interesting  theory  of  the  overturning  of  the 
planets  applies  of  course  to  other  members  of  the  sys- 
tem, including  the  earth.  It  finds  partial  support  in 
the  vertical  revolution  of  the  satellites  of  Uranus. 
But  another  complication  was  introduced  when  Pro- 
fessor Perrine  in  1905  made  photographic  discovery 
of  two  new  moons  in  the  system  of  Jupiter  (the  sixth 
and  seventh)  which  seemed  to  be  revolving  in  almost 
the  same  orbit,  but  one  of  them  going  forward,  the 
other  (No.  VII)  in  retrograde  direction. 

Even  the  turning  upside  down  of  planets  cannot  ac- 
count for  two  moons  revolving  in  opposite  direction 
at  about  the  same  distance  from  their  primary. 

13 


MIRACLES  OF  SCIENCE 

And  even  if  the  seventh  satellite  of  Jupiter  should 
prove  on  further  examination  not  to  have  a  retrograde 
movement  (the  question  is  not  quite  settled)  there 
would  still  remain  such  anomalies  as  the  exceedingly 
rapid  rotation  of  the  innermost  moon  of  Mars;  the 
ever-puzzling  fact  that  neither  the  sun  itself  nor  any 
of  the  planets  revolves  fast  enough  to  produce  a  cen- 
trifugal effect  adequate  to  overcome  the  attraction  of 
gravitation;  and  the  vital  fact  that  the  planets  do  not 
revolve  in  the  plane  of  the  sun's  equator. 

Moreover  Professor  Moulton  in  1909  carried  out 
an  elaborate  mathematical  investigation  which  seems 
to  render  it  at  least  doubtful  (1)  whether  a  revolving 
gaseous  body,  such  as  the  original  Laplacian  nebula 
is  supposed  to  have  been,  could  develop  the  mechan- 
ical conditions  necessary  to  whirl  off  a  ring  of  its  sub- 
stance, and  (2)  whether  such  a  ring  could  assume  the 
form  of  a  planet  even  if  it  were  detached. 

THE  PLANETESIMAL  THEORY  SOLVES  MANY  PUZZLES 

The  planetesimal  theory,  on  the  other  hand,  seems 
to  afford  a  fairly  satisfactory  explanation  of  all  the 
observed  anomalies  of  planetary  revolution  and  rota- 
tion, without  doing  violence  to  any  recognized  law  of 
mechanics. 

For  example,  the  crucial  facts  that  the  sun  rotates 
slowly  and  that  the  planets  do  not  revolve  in  the  plane 
of  the  sun's  equator,  present  no  difficulties,  since 
neither  the  direction  nor  the  speed  of  the  sun's  rota- 
tion is  conceived  as  having  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  genesis  of  the  planetary  system.  The  sun  merely 
continues  to  rotate — like  the  big  top  that  it  is — on  the 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

same  axis  and  with  a  good  deal  the  same  speed  that 
it  had  before  the  explosive  outburst  occurred  which 
produced  the  spiral  nebula  out  of  which  the  planets 
have  developed. 

The  planets  themselves,  as  they  were  built  up  about 
nuclei  or  masses  in  the  spiral  nebula,  might  at  first 
have  no  motion  of  rotation,  but  would  begin  to  rotate 
in  response  to  the  influence  of  impinging  planetesi- 
mals. 

Professor  Moulton  shows  that  the  results  of  such 
impingement  would  be  generally,  but  not  necessarily, 
to  give  a  forward  rotation  somewhat  in  the  plane  of 
revolution.  But  the  presence  of  other  large  masses 
(future  moons)  near  by  may  alter  this;  and  there  is 
no  theoretical  reason  why  any  degree  of  aberration 
might  not  be  observed.  Thus  the  variously  tipped 
axes  of  the  planets  are  accounted  for. 

Again,  outlying  masses  that  were  not  at  first  part 
of  a  given  planetary  system  might  be  brought  within 
the  influence  of  a  forming  planet  at  a  relatively  late 
stage  (somewhat  as  Jupiter  even  now  captures 
comets),  and  these  captives  might  revolve  in  any 
plane  or  in  any  direction,  just  as  comets  do.  So  the 
retrograde  revolution  of  Phoebe  is  explained;  also 
the  aberrent  revolution  of  the  moons  of  Uranus  and 
Saturn.  Likewise  the  speed  of  little  Phobos,  which 
races  three  times  round  Mars  while  that  planet  is  re- 
volving once.  There  is  no  restriction  put  upon  the 
speed  of  a  satellite  by  the  rotation  speed  of  its  pri- 
mary according  to  the  new  theory. 

It  may  be  added  that  Professor  See  of  the  Marine 
Observatory  at  Mare  Island,  California,  has  elaborat- 

'5 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

ed  this  capture  theory,  in  particular  with  reference 
to  the  asteroids,  which  he  thinks  were  drawn  into 
their  orbits  by  Jupiter.  Our  moon  also  he  regards  as 
a  capture  product.  Its  curiously  marked  face,  he 
thinks,  shows  the  effect  of  the  impact  of  asteroids  as 
it  came  through  their  zone.  Each  lunar  crater,  in 
his  view,  marks  the  tomb  of  a  planetoid,  and  not  the 
location  of  a  former  volcano. 

The  planetoids  themselves,  by  the  way,  were  always 
stumbling  blocks  to  the  Laplacian  hypothesis.  In  the 
new  view  they  are  simply  largish  planetesimals  that 
did  not  chance  to  lie  near  a  larger  nucleus  of  conden- 
sation and  hence  have  remained  isolated,  like  myriads 
of  the  yet  smaller  fragments  we  call  meteorites. 

In  a  word,  then,  the  planetesimal  theory  seems  to 
have  a  high  degree  of  probability.  It  is  easily  the 
most  plausible  hypothesis  of  the  origin  of  the  solar 
system  that  has  ever  been  advanced.  It  is  peculiarly 
hospitable  to  various  interpretations  as  to  details  of 
progression  in  world-making.  No  known  fact  of  as- 
tronomy or  mechanics  contradicts  it  vitally;  a  multi- 
tude of  facts  support  it. 

Of  course  it  is  not  utterly  nugatory  of  all  that  went 
before.  We  have  seen  that  the  new  theory,  like  the 
old,  conceives  the  solar  system  to  have  originated 
from  a  nebula, — it  is  still  a  "nebular"  hypothesis.  But 
the  entire  change  of  view  that  it  contemplates  in  re- 
gard both  to  the  original  state  of  the  nebula  and  the 
stages  of  evolution  through  which  a  planetary  system 
is  evolved,  is  so  radical  that  the  theory  is  fully  entitled 
to  be  regarded  not  only  as  novel  but  in  a  sense  as 
revolutionary.  It  extends  to  the  planetary  system  in 

16 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

detail  the  principles  of  world-building  made  familiar 
through  Lockyer's  famous  meteoric  theory  of  side- 
real cosmogony. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  SPIRAL  NEBULAE 

If,  then,  we  give  at  least  provisional  recognition  to 
the  spiral  nebula  as  the  "Mother  of  Worlds/'  a  ques- 
tion naturally  arises  as  to  how  this  interesting  struc- 
ture itself  came  into  being. 

Professor  Moulton  answers  this  question  in  de- 
tail. He  tells  us  that  what  we  now  view  as  a  spiral 
nebula  was  aforetime  (let  us  say  a  million  or  a  hun- 
dred million  years  ago)  a  gaseous  star,  not  particu- 
larly different  from  millions  of  others  that  exist  in  the 
sky  to-day,  or  for  that  matter  from  our  sun  itself. 

But  it  chanced  that  in  its  progress  through  space 
this  star  flew  in  a  direction  which  brought  it  ultimate- 
ly in  the  neighborhood  of  another  star.  Unless  the 
scheme  of  the  universe  is  something  quite  different 
from  what  we  now  imagine,  this  must  happen  in 
course  of  time  to  every  stellar  body.  All  the  stars  are 
moving,  and  their  rate  of  speed  in  some  measured 
instances  exceeds  100  miles  per  second.  They  are 
moving  in  different  directions,  in  groups,  clusters, 
pairs,  or.  singly,  and  it  would  seem  inevitable  that 
their  paths  must  cross.  , 

It  will  not  often  happen,  in  all  probability,  that 
two  stars  will  meet  head  on.  But  they  may  exert  a 
tremendous  mutual  influence  without  actually  collid- 
ing. A  German  astronomer  named  Roche  made,  half 
a  century  ago,  a  famous  estimate  to  the  effect  that  if 
two  stellar  bodies  of  equal  size  approach  each  other 

n 


MIRACLES  OF  SCIENCE 

within  a  distance  of  about  two  and  a  half  radii,  the 
power  of  gravitation  will  suffice  to  tear  the  structure 
of  both  bodies  asunder. 

To  make  the  illustration  specific,  if  a  body  as  large 
as  the  earth  were  to  come  within  something  less  than 
10,000  miles  of  the  earth,  both  our  globe  and  the  other 
body  would  explode  like  bombs  and  their  fragments 
would  be  scattered  out  into  space.  This  critical  dis- 
tance of  two  and  a  half  radii  (more  exactly  2.44)  is 
known  to  astronomers  as  Roche's  limit.  Saturn's 
rings  lie  within  this  limit,  and  seemingly  illustrate 
the  law,  as  they  consist  of  comminuted  particles  of 
world-stuff. 

But  suppose  now  that  two  stars  hurtling  through 
space  approach  each  other  at  such  an  angle  as  not  to 
come  within  the  dangerous  explosion  zone  (Roche's 
limit)  but  on  the  other  hand  near  enough  to  exert  a 
mutual  tidal  strain  of  tremendous  power.  Gigantic 
tides  will  then  be  raised  on  each  of  the  bodies,  and 
even  though  their  structures  as  a  whole  are  not  dis- 
rupted, there  will  be  a  vast  eruption  of  their  gaseous 
substance  from  opposite  sides  of  both  bodies. 

That  the  tidal  effect  should  be  manifested  equally 
in  opposite  directions,  is  well  understood  by  mathe- 
maticians. To  the  non-mathematical  mind,  the  fact 
though  puzzling  is  made  familiar  by  the  twice-daily 
recurrence  of  the  ocean  tides. 

If  we  look  closely  at  the  photograph  of  a  spiral 
nebula,  we  shall  see  that  the  two  spiral  arms  do  in 
point  of  fact  originate  exactly  opposite  each  other  in 
the  structure  of  the  globular  central  nucleus. 

The  eruptive  mass  which  thus  bursts  forth  with 

1 8 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

explosive  violence  from  each  side  of  the  star  would 
stream  straight  out  into  space  in  opposite  directions 
and  each  stream  would  ultimately  fall  directly  back 
upon  the  body  from  which  it  came,  as  a  ball  drops 
back  to  the  earth  when  you  toss  it  into  the  air,  were 
it  not  that  the  gravitational  influence  of  the  passing 
star,  which  caused  the  eruption,  continues  to  make  it- 
self felt  upon  the  erupted  matter.  The  main  eruption 
would  occur  just  at  the  moment  when  the  stars  were 
nearest  each  other,  minor  eruptions  would  have  taken 
place  while  the  stars  were  approaching  and  will  con- 
tinue for  some  time  as  they  recede.  And  all  the  mat- 
ter both  of  major  and  minor  eruptions  will  be  drawn 
aside  from  a  direct  outward  flight  by  the  gravitation 
pull  which  shifts  its  direction  constantly  with  the 
movement  of  the  passing  body. 

The  result  will  be,  as  Professor  Moulton  has  dem- 
onstrated mathematically,  that  the  two  main  erup- 
tive streams  will  be  drawn  out  to  form  independent 
spirals,  the  space  between  which  will  be  more  or  less 
filled  with  matter  from  the  minor  eruptions ;  and  that 
each  particle  of  eruptive  matter  will  ultimately  settle 
into  an  elliptical  course,  for  the  most  part  permanent- 
ly detached  from  the  central  nucleus.  In  other  words, 
such  a  form  as  we  see  actually  taken  by  the  spiral  neb- 
ula is  fully  accounted  for. 

WORLD  SMASHING 

Such,  then,  is  the  result  when  two  stars  approach 
each  other  without  actual  collision. 

But  it  must  occasionally  happen  that  two  members 
of  the  sidereal  swarm,  as  they  dash  through  space, 

19 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

will  come  within  the  danger  line  of  Roche's  limit,  or 
actually  plunge  together. 

In  either  case  the  stars  must  explode  like  gigantic 
bombs,  and  it  seems  unlikely  that  the  resulting  neb- 
ular masses  would  take  on  the  regular  form  of  the 
nucleated  spiral.  We  should  rather  expect  the  gase- 
ous mass  to  assume  a  more  or  less  globular  form  in 
case  of  explosion  without  actual  contact;  a  cone- 
shaped  mass  if  the  two  stars  came  together  at  a  con- 
verging angle ;  or  a  long  drawn  out  cloud  in  the  event 
of  a  glancing  head-on  collision. 

And  in  point  of  fact  the  telescope  fully  justifies  these 
expectations.  There  are  multitudes  of  nebulae  that  do 
assume  forms  widely  different  from  the  typical  spiral. 

There  is  a  famous  nebula  in  the  constellation  Sagi- 
tarrius,  for  example,  which  is  called  the  trifid  nebula 
because  it  seems  to  be  split  into  three  somewhat  reg- 
ular parts.  Again  there  is  the  network  nebula  in  the 
constellation  Cygnus,  which  is  drawn  out  into  a  long 
irregular  curiously  cloud-like  streak  of  nebulosity; 
and  there  are  sundry  other  nebulae  that  are  disc-like 
in  form,  and  a  few  that  have  the  shape  of  rings, — 
notably  one  in  the  constellation  Lyra  which  is  visible 
through  a  small  hand  glass. 

We  cannot  suppose  that  nebulae  of  these  aberrent 
types  will  develop  into  solar  systems  such  as  ours. 
They  seem  destined  to  produce  clusters  of  stars  rather 
than  a  single  star  with  small  planetary  attendants. 

AN  ALTERNATIVE  THEORY  OF  THE  FORMATION  OF  NEBULAE 

Although  the  theory  of  collisions  between  stars 
gives  a  rather  plausible  explanation  of  the  origin  of 

20 


"NETWORK"  NEBULA 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

nebulae,  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  an  alter- 
native explanation  has  been  put  forward  in  recent 
years.  This  is  Professor  Svante  Arrhenius'  theory 
that  the  universe  is  full  of  "cosmical  dust,"  thrown 
out  under  influence  of  the  pressure  of  radiant  energy 
from  the  incandescent  stars.  The  electrified  particles 
of  world  stuff  driven  off  from  the  suns  are  supposed 
to  collide  in  space  and  build  up  tiny  meteorites,  which 
ultimately  aggregate  under  the  influence  of  gravita- 
tion. Myriads  of  these  meteorites  fall  into  the  earth's 
atmosphere;  sundry  swarms  of  them  make  up  the 
wisps  of  matter  we  call  comets ;  still  greater  swarms, 
out  in  sidereal  space,  build  up  the  nebulae. 

According  to  Arrhenius  the  nebulae  thus  construct- 
ed are  cold  with  the  frigidity  of  empty  space,  and  owe 
their  luminosity  to  the  impact  of  electrified  particles, 
causing  a  glow  like  that  of  the  rarefied  matter  of  a 
vacuum  tube  in  the  laboratory. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  both  theories  of  nebular 
origins  are  correct.  The  spectroscope  shows  that 
nebulae  are  of  two  quite  different  types.  Many  of  the 
filmy  ones  give  a  bright  line  spectrum  characteristic 
of  incandescent  gases;  whereas  the  spiral  nebulae  re- 
veal a  mixed  spectrum,  partly  of  condensed,  and 
partly  of  gaseous  matter,  confirming  thus  their  tele- 
scopic  appearance. 

THE   ORIGIN    OF   WORLD-SYSTEMS 

But  whatever  the  origin  of  the  nebulae,  there  is  no 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  destiny  of  some  at 
least  of  them.    The  mass  of  meteoric  matter  of  whichN 
they  are  composed  will  ultimately  condense  to  form 

21 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

star  clusters  or  world  systems.  Very  recently,  to  be 
sure,  the  question  has  been  raised  as  to  whether  some 
nebulae  may  not  be  in  reality  veritable  universes  of 
stars,  lying  far  beyond  the  limits  of  our  sidereal  sys- 
tem, as  was  formerly  supposed.  But  there  are  cases 
in  which  no  such  interpretation  can  be  put  upon  the 
observed  conditions;  cases  in  which  the  process  of 
star-formation  seems  to  be  directly  revealed  in  a  great 
modern  telescope. 

In  the  group  of  the  Pleiades,  familiarly  known  as 
the  "little  dipper,"  for  example,  such  a  process  of  star- 
formation  may  be  clearly  observed.  To  the  naked  eye 
and  even  to  a  telescope  of  considerable  power,  the 
main  stars  of  this  group  (those  that  outline  the  dip- 
per) appear  as  ordinary  stars  of  the  fifth  or  sixth 
magnitude.  But  in  the  great  five-foot  Mt.  Wilson 
reflector,  these  stars  seem  to  be  surrounded  by  a 
misty  veil  of  nebulous  matter.  In  photographs  of 
long  exposure,  shreds  of  the  nebulous  matter  are  seen 
to  extend  from  one  star  to  another.  They  leave  no 
doubt  that  the  divers  stars  are  enmeshed  in  the  same 
nebulous  structure. 

Here,  then,  we  observe  the  later  stages  of  develop- 
ment of  nebular  condensation;  or,  from  the  other 
point  of  view,  the  earlier  stages  of  star-formation. 
Could  we  look  ahead  sundry  millions  of  years,  we 
should  doubtless  see  the  stars  of  the  Pleiades  shining 
as  clear  central  points  without  a  nimbus,  each  one 
having  absorbed  (through  gravitation)  the  nebular 
matter  that  now  surrounds  it. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  numberless 
star  groups  in  the  heavens  have  had  a  similar  origin. 

22 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

There  are  indeed  visible  star  groups  to  match  each 
type  of  nebula, — roundish  clusters  within  which 
thousands  of  stars  are  massed  (there  is  a  fine  example 
in  the  constellation  Hercules);  conical  groups;  and 
groups  having  a  linear  arrangement  like  the  familiar 
belt  of  Orion. 

And  as  to  groups  comprising  merely  two  or  three 
stars  relatively  near  together,  they  positively  abound. 
Recent  observation  has  shown  that  one  star  in  seven 
becomes  a  visual  double  when  viewed  through  the 
biggest  telescope.  Of  stars  of  the  Orion  type  one  in 
three  proves  to  be  a  double.  Then  there  are  multi- 
tudes of  stars  that  are  accompanied  by  dark  compan- 
ions, the  presence  of  which  is  revealed  only  by  the 
spectroscope. 

THE  LIFE-STORY  OF  A  STAR 

It  would  appear,  then,  that  a  star  is  a  body  which  is 
born  out  of  the  cosmical  mist  of  a  nebula.  The  stages 
of  stellar  evolution  are  pretty  clearly  revealed  by  the 
spectroscope.  The  young  star,  it  would  appear,  al- 
though it  is  incessantly  giving  out  heat,  nevertheless 
contracts  so  rapidly  that  it  becomes  hotter  and  hotter. 
Presently  it  shines  with  a  dazzling  white  light,  as 
illustrated  by  the  well-known  stars  Sirius  and 
Procyon,  and  a  host  of  others.  At  this  stage  the 
spectrum  reveals  the  presence  of  the  light  gases,  hy- 
drogen and  helium. 

Then  the  star  cools  somewhat  and  becomes  yellow- 
ish in  color;  and  the  spectroscope  shows  the  vapors  of 
calcium,  iron,  and  numerous  other  familiar  terrestrial 
elements.  Our  sun  is  a  star  in  the  yellow  stage;  and 

33 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

another  familiar  example  is  the  bright  star  Arcturus. 

At  a  still  later  stage  the  star  becoming  yet  cooler 
takes  on  a  reddish  glow,  and  its  spectrum  shows  char- 
acteristic bands  of  carbon.  Betelgeuse  and  Mira  are 
familiar  examples. 

The  stages  of  this  evolution  require  unthinkable 
billions  of  years,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  escape  from 
the  conclusion  that  each  and  every  star  is  destined 
ultimately  to  be  blotted  out  in  darkness, — reaching  a 
condition,  in  other  words,  of  which  we  have  examples  4 
on  a  small  scale  in  the  present  state  of  the  moon  and 
of  the  earth  itself. 

So  far  as  present  knowledge  goes  there  is  only  one 
way  in  which  a  star  that  has  thus  become  cold  and 
dark  can  be  rejuvenated,  and  that  is  by  collision. 
There  would  seem  to  be  no  reason,  however,  why  any 
given  star  might  not  undergo  the  process  of  collision, 
nebula  formation,  slow  cooling,  and  extinction,  over 
and  over.  During  each  time  of  brilliancy  it  would 
lose  some  of  its  substance  an'd  its  energy  through 
radiation;  but  on  the  other  hand,  new  matter  must 
come  to  it  constantly  in  the  form  of  cosmical  clust; 
and  renewed  energy  may  be  accumulated  through 
momentum  acquired  in  falling  through  space — say 
toward  the  gravitation  center  of  the  universe. 

So  the  cyclic  process  might  conceivably  go  on  for- 
ever; or  at  all  events  until  some  unthinkably  remote 
epoch  of  the  future  when  all  the  gravitational  matter 
in  the  universe  has  been  aggregated  into  a  single 
mass.  Meantime  it  would  seem  as  if  the  periods  of 
darkness  for  each  individual  star  must  be  indefinitely 
long  in  comparison  with  the  periods  of  brightness. 

24 


t  ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

This  would  imply  that  dark  stars  must  be  more  nu- 
merous in  the  universe  than  bright  ones. 

INVISIBLE    NEBULAE 

And  this  suggests  a  query  as  to  whether  there  may: 
not  also  be  non-luminous  nebulae  in  the  heavens. 
This  seems  probable  enough;  indeed  the  puzzling 
thing  is  rather  that  so  many  nebulae  are  visible.  But 
until  very  recently  no  direct  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  dark  nebulae  was  forthcoming.  Early  in  the 
present  century,  however,  some  novel  observations 
were  made  which  may  be  most  plausibly  explained  on 
the  supposition  that  a  dark  star  had  plunged  directly 
through  the  mass  of  an  invisible  nebula. 

If  our  inferences  are  correct,  the  catastrophe  in 
question  really  occurred  about  the  year  1600, — just  at 
the  time,  let  us  say,  when  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were 
planning  to  migrate  to  America.  But  the  colliding 
bodies  lie  so  far  distant  in  stellar  space  that  the  light 
waves  with  which  the  disaster  was  signaled  forth  re- 
quired about  300  years  to  reach  our  planet.  Thus  it 
happened  that  one  night  in  February,  1901,  it  was  re- 
corded in  terrestrial  observatories  that  a  new  star  had 
flashed  suddenly  forth  in  the  constellation  Perseus. 
Night  by  night  this  star  became  brighter  until  it 
equaled  stars  of  the  first  magnitude  in  brilliancy. 
Then  it  gradually  faded  away.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
months  it  became  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  and  in 
the  succeeding  years  it  has  remained  at  about  the 
twelfth  magnitude,  near  the  limits  of  vision  of  all  but 
the  largest  telescopes. 

But  as  the  star  diminished  in  brilliancy  there  was 
3  25 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE  t 

observed  to  form  about  it  a  nebulous  haze  which 
spread  rapidly  outward  in  all  directions  until  an  oval 
nebula  of  large  dimensions  was  formed.  The  rate  of 
seeming  growth  of  this  nebula,  spreading  outward  in 
all  directions  from  the  star,  was  comparable  to  the 
speed  of  light. 

At  first  astronomers  were  at  a  loss  to  explain  this 
curious  phenomenon.  If  the  blazing  up  of  the  new 
*  star  had  been  due  to  the  collision  of  two  dark  bodies, 
the  incandescent  mass  formed  would  presumably 
blaze  out  as  a  permanent  star,  instead  of  fading  quick- 
ly away.  And  if  the  seeming  spread  of  the  nebula 
marked  an  actual  dispersion  of  gaseous  or  other  mat- 
ter, its  rate  of  progression  exceeded  what  had  been 
believed  to  be  the  speed  limit  of  particles  of  matter. 

So  the  most  plausible  explanation  of  the  phenomena 
seemed  to  be  that  a  dark  star  in  plunging  through  the 
body  of  a  pre-existing  nebula  had  been  rendered  in- 
candescent at  its  surface  only  and  hence  quickly  lost 
brilliancy  after  passing  through  the  nebula ;  and  that 
the  seeming  growth  of  the  nebula  month  by  month 
as  viewed  from  the  earth  marked  the  spread  of  light 
which  thus  illuminated  the  pre-existing  but  hitherto 
dark  nebula  in  due  course  from  center  to  circum- 
ference. The  size  of  the  nebula  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  it  required  several  months  for  the  light 
to  reach  its  borders, — and  light  travels,  it  will  be  re- 
called, 186,000  miles  per  second. 

WHY  NEBULAE  ARE  NUMEROUS 

We  must  not  take  leave  of  the  new  star  in  Perseus 
without  noting  that  a  somewhat  different  explanation 

26 


PROFESSOR    SVANTE    ARRHENIUS    IN    HIS    STUDY 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    WORLD 

of  the  curious  phenomena  involved  has  been  given  by 
the  famous  Swedish  chemist  and  cosmologist  Pro- 
fessor Svante  Arrhenius.  This  profound  student  of 
cosmical  conditions  believes  that  the  spread  of  a 
luminous  nebulosity  in  the  region  of  the  new  star 
really  marked  the  dissipation  through  space  of  matter 
thrown  out  from  the  star.  He  thinks  the  light  of  the 
star  itself  due  to  the  collision  of  two  dark  stellar 
bodies.  The  volumes  of  minute  particles  thus  en- 
gendered were  driven  off,  according  to  his  theory, 
from  the  central  body  under  the  influence  of  the  pres- 
sure of  light.  Hence  they  traveled  at  approximately 
the  speed  of  light.  The  fading  out  of  the  star,  he 
explains,  is  due  to  the  obscuring  of  its  light  through 
the  accumulation  of  clouds  of  this  cosmical  dust 
about  it. 

It  should  be  understood  that  this  explanation  is  in 
keeping  with  a  general  theory  of  the  scattering  of 
cosmical  dust  through  the  universe  through  the  in- 
fluence of  light  pressure,  which  Professor  Arrhenius 
has  elaborated  and  given  a  prominent  place  among 
recent  speculations  as  to  solar  and  sidereal  physical 
conditions.  On  trig  whole,  however,  the  theory  of  a 
dark  body  ploughing  through  a  nebula  is  the  more 
plausible  explanation  of  the  observed  phenomena  of 
the  new  star.  On  this  assumption,  the  phenomena 
take  on  peculiar  interest  when  we  reflect  that  they 
seem  to  suggest  that  invisible  nebulae  may  be  scat- 
tered everywhere  throughout  stellar  space.  For 
aught  we  know  to  the  contrary,  our  solar  system  may 
be  darting  directly  into  one  of  these  great  nets.  The 
case  of  the  new  star  in  Perseus  seems  to  show  that 

27 


MIRACLES   OF   SCIENCE 

the  nebulous  matter  may  be  sufficiently  dense  to  bring 
the  surface  of  a  star  to  incandescence.  That  obviously 
would  mean  the  annihilation  of  all  life  on  the  globe, 
even  though  the  entire  mechanism  of  the  solar  system 
were  not  disrupted. 

feWe  know  that  we  are  at  present  far  removed  from 
any  one  of  the  myriad  of  dark  stars,  else  their  pres- 
ence would  make  itself  known  though  a  gravitational 
effect  on  the  orbits  of  the  planets.  But  it  seems  quite 
within  the  possibilities  that  a  nebula  might  be  spread 
out  net-like  in  our  course  without  revealing  its  pres- 
ence until  we  were  fairly  enmeshed  in  its  substance. 
The  probability  is  not  one  to  cause  even  the  most 
timorous  to  lie  awake  of  nights.  But  that  it  is  a  pos- 
sibility,— and  one  that  in  the  course  of  the  ages  will 
become  a  reality, — the  observation  of  the  new  star  in 
Perseus  seems  strongly  to  suggest. 

Very  likely  the  human  race  will  be  extinct  before 
this  happens.  But  in  any  event  we  cannot  suppose 
that  the  snuffing  out  of  life  on  a  fifth  rate  planet  such 
as  ours,  in  connection  with  a  minor  solar  system,  can 
be  of  any  conceivable  consequence  in  the  cosmic 
scheme  of  a  universe  of  a  hundred  million  or  perhaps 
a  thousand  million  suns.  'A  fly  on  the  window  pane 
bears  a  larger  relation  to  the  size  of  our  globe  than 
the  globe  itself  bears  to  the  space  compassed  within 
the  sphere  of  the  visible  stars. 


II 

CHARTING  THE  UNIVERSE 

TO  us  its  inhabitants  our  earth  seems  a  very  big 
place.  The  man  who  has  been  "round  the 
world"  has  taken  a  journey  that  is  to  be  remembered 
for  a  life  time.  The  fastest  express  train  requires 
four  days  to  cross  our  big  continent.  The  fastest 
ship  takes  five  days  to  cross  the  narrowest  part  of 
the  Atlantic. 

Our  modern  air  ships  fly  a  mile  a  minute — sixty 
miles  an  hour.  Suppose  an  airship  were  so  perfected 
that  it  could  maintain  its  flight  uninterruptedly  day 
after  day  without  stopping  for  repairs  or  fuel.  Such 
a  flying  machine,  going  a  mile  a  minute,  would  carry 
its  passengers  clear  around  the  world  at  the  equator 
in  less  than  seventeen  days. 

That  would  be  a  feat  worth  talking  about, — the 
circumnavigation  of  our  big  world  in  little  more  than 
half  a  month. 

But  now  suppose  that  the  airmen,  flying  thus  at 
uniform  speed  of  a  mile  a  minute,  could  start  straight 
up  into  the  air  and  could  continue  in  a  bee  line  on  a 
Jules  Verne  voyage  off  into  space.  How  long  would  it 
take  him,  think  you,  to  get  to  our  neighbor  Mars? 
Why,  a  matter  of  ninety  odd  years. 

That  would  be  a  tiresome  voyage, — not  to  speak 

29 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

of  the  absence  of  air  and  the  frigidity  of  empty  space. 
Yet  it  would  constitute  only  the  beginning  of  an  ex- 
ploratory tour  across  the  solar  system.  If  our  phan- 
tom voyager  were  disposed  to  see  something  more 
of  the  world-system  of  which  the  earth  and  Mars  are 
minor  members,  he  might  pass  right  on  for  some  cen- 
turies through  the  region  of  the  swarming  minor 
planets,  called  asteroids  or  planetoids,  and  only  after 
700  years  of  flying  would  he  come  to  Jupiter, — some- 
thing really  worth  while  in  the  way  of  planets,  bulk- 
ing 1300  times  bigger  than  the  earth. 

Another  period  of  760  years  would  be  required! 
to  cross  the  gap  between  Jupiter  and  Saturn.  The 
journey  from  Saturn  to  Uranus  would  require  1700 
years.  And  the  final  stage  of  the  tour  across  the 
planetary  system  to  Neptune,  the  farthest  outlying 
member  of  the  sun's  family,  would  take  1800  years 
more.  Thus  the  entire  journey  from  the  earth  to 
Neptune  (when  that  planet  is  nearest  us)  would  re- 
quire 5000  years. 

If  we  recall  that  the  craft  which  thus  required 
fifty  centuries  to  pass  from  our  earth  to  its  most  dis- 
tant planetary  neighbor  required  but  seventeen  days 
to  circumnavigate  the  earth  itself,  we  shall  pretty 
clearly  realize  that  our  solar  system  is  a  stupendous 
structure. 

But  all  things  are  relative.  And  if  we  would  fully 
grasp  the  situation,  we  must  reflect  that  the  journey 
to  Neptune  is  after  all  only  a  very  short  excursion 
into  the  depths  of  space  as  contrasted  with  the  stellar 
distances.  If  our  hypothetical  air-machine,  which 
went  to  Mars  in  ninety  years,  and  to  Neptune  in  5000, 

30 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

could  continue  at  unabated  speed,  fifty  million  years 
would  be  required  for  it  to  reach  the  nearest  star. 

That  is  to  say,  the  star  that  is  our  nearest  neigh- 
bor in  space  lies  about  18,000  times  as  far  away  from 
us  as  the  remotest  member  of  the  sun's  planetary 
family.  The  trip  to  Neptune  bears  the  same. relation 
to  the  trip  to  the  nearest  star  that  a  brisk  half  hour's 
walk  here  on  the  earth  bears  to  the  circumnavigation 
of  the  globe. 

As  to  the  stars  that  make  up  the  main  galaxies 
that  greet  our  eyes  whenever  we  glance  skyward,  it 
is  futile  to  attempt  to  give  a  notion  of  their  distances 
in  terms  of  mundane  measurements.  To  say  that  our 
mile-a-minute  aeroplane  would  require  a  thousand 
million  years  to  reach  a  star  of  average  distance,  and 
twenty  or  thirty  billion  years  to  come  to  the  remoter 
stars  of  the  galaxy,  conveys  little  meaning,  since  mil- 
lions and  billions,  however  glibly  phrased,  are  incom- 
prehensible terms. 

But  whether  or  not  such  distances  are  compre- 
hensible, they  represent  actual  magnitudes  with 
which  the  astronomer,  when  he  charts  the  heavens, 
must  deal  as  familiarly  as  the  surveyor  of  land  deals 
with  rods  and  miles.  To  make  his  figures  a  little 
more  manageable,  the  astronomer  adopts  a  new  unit 
of  measurement.  He  estimates  stellar  distances  in 
terms  of  "light-years;"  the  light-year  being  the  dis- 
tance that  light,  compassing  186,000  miles  per  sec- 
ond, travels  in  365  days.  This  distance — the  astrono- 
mer's foot  rule — is  almost  six  million  million  miles. 

The  nearest  star  is  at  a  distance  of  about  four 
light-years.  The  farthest  stars  revealed  by  the  tele- 

31 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

scope,  are  thousands  of  light-years  away.  Meantime 
light  comes  to  us  from  the  sun  in  eight  minutes,  and 
travels  on  to  Neptune,  the  farthest  member  of  the 
solar  system,  in  five  and  a  half  hours. 

Such  estimates  serve  to  give  us  at  least  a  vague  no- 
tion of  stellar  distances,  and  of  our  isolation  in  space. 
But  most  of  all  they  make  us  wonder  at  the  wizardry 
that  has  enabled  the  modern  star-gazer  to  ferret  out 
the  secrets  of  bodies  so  unthinkably  distant.  It  would 
almost  appear  as  if  the  modern  instruments  had  made 
'distance  a  negligible  quantity.  And  in  point  of  fact 
it  is  true  that  the  universe  at  large  is  the  laboratory 
of  the  scientific  investigator  of  our  day. 

Not  content  with  analyzing  terrestrial  phenom- 
ena, he  reaches  out  to  the  sun,  to  the  farthest  planets, 
then  on  across  the  abysmal  spaces  to  the  stars  and 
nebulae.  And  he  tests  the  physical  properties  and 
chemical  composition  of  those  infinitely  distant 
bodies  in  a  way  that  is  weird  and  mystifying.  He 
not  only  expands  the  limits  of  the  visible  universe 
to  unbelievable  dimensions,  but  he  invades  the  do- 
main of  the  invisible.  He  proves  to  us  that  there  are 
myriads  of  dark  stars  out  in  space,  and  that  in  many 
cases  these  stars  can  be  located,  tested  as  to  their 
flight,  and  actually  weighed  and  measured. 

Weirdly  incomprehensible  as  these  feats  seem  to 
the  uninitiated, — and  assuredly  they  do  have  attri- 
butes of  the  miraculous, — there  is  nothing  occult  or 
inexplicable  about  them.  They  are  performed  with 
instruments  of  definite  and  well-known  types ;  instru- 
ments that  differ  from  those  in  common  use  among 
scientific  workers  in  general  only  in  the  exquisite 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

delicacy  of  their  mechanism,  not  in  their  principles 
of  action. 

The  big  forty-inch  refracting  telescope  of  Yerkes 
Observatory,  for  example,  is  after  all  only  an  over- 
grown field  glass.  And  the  biggest  reflecting  tele- 
scope is  merely  a  concave  mirror,  differing  in  no 
essential  principle  of  action  from  the  reflector  made 
by  Sir  Isaac  Newton  two  centuries  ago.  As  to  the 
remaining  implements  of  the  astronomer's  essential 
equipment,  the  spectroscope  was  first  used  in  star- 
testing  by  Huggins  as  long  ago  as  1862;  and  the 
utility  of  the  photographic  plate  has  been  recognized 
for  about  the  same  period.  So  it  is  not  so  much  new 
methods  as  the  better  use  of  old  methods  that  ac- 
counts for  the  spectacular  progress  of  present-day 
astronomy. 

THE  LIGHT-GATHERING  TELESCOPE 

The  essential  function  performed  by  the  tele- 
scope is  the  gathering  of  light  and  bringing  it  to  a 
true  focus.  Obviously  the  larger  the  lens  or  mirror, 
the  more  light  it  gathers.  But  the  matter  of  size  is 
not  everything,  for  the  largest  of  all  telescopes,  Lord 
Ross'  six-foot  reflector,  erected  in  Ireland  in  1846,  is 
no  match  for  modern  instruments;  and  the  forty- 
nine-inch  lens  of  the  Paris  refractor,  the  biggest  thing 
of  its  type,  has  been  used  only  for  exhibition  pur- 
poses. It  is  possible  with  the  use  of  high  power  ob- 
jectives to  magnify  the  telescopic  image  almost  in- 
definitely. The  difficulty  is  that  unless  the  lens  or 
mirror  is  very  perfect,  and  the  atmosphere  very  clear, 
the  image  becomes  only  a  misty  blur.  It  is  not 

33 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

merely  more  light  but  better-focused  light  that  the 
astronomer  is  forever  seeking. 

But  suppose  you  combine  size  and  quality;  have 
your  lens  ground  by  an  Alvan  Clark,  or  your  mirror 
fashioned  by  a  Ritchie;  substitute  your  metal  mirror 
with  a  glass  one  superbly  polished  and  thinly  silvered 
on  the  front  surface.  Suppose,  then,  that  you  trans- 
fer your  observatory  from  the  heavy  atmosphere  of 
the  sea-level  to  the  thin,  clear  air  of  the  mountain 
tops.  Then  conditions  are  achieved  that  bespeak 
notable  results. 

Such  are  the  conditions  under  which  work  is  done 
at  Lick  Observatory  and  at  Mt.  Wilson.  As  the  case 
stands  at  the  moment,  the  five-foot  reflector  at  Mt. 
Wilson  is  effectively  the  most  powerful  instrument  in 
existence,  although  as  just  noted  it  is  not  the  largest. 
The  hundred-inch  mirror  now  in  process  of  construc- 
tion at  Mt.  Wilson  will,  it  is  hoped,  surpass  by  yet 
another  stage  all  previous  efforts  in  the  all-essential 
work  of  light-gathering. 

The  simplest  test  of  a  telescope  is  the  capacity  of 
the  instrument  to  bring  new  galaxies  of  stars  into  the 
field  of  vision.  At  the  outset  we  must  recall  that  even 
our  planetary  neighbors  Uranus  and  Neptune  are 
invisible  to  the  naked  eye.  So  are  all  the  little  plan- 
ets— about  seven  hundred  are  known — that  people 
the  space  between  Mars  and  Jupiter.  The  total  num- 
ber of  stars  within  the  range  of  unaided  vision  is  only 
about  five  thousand.  They  are  arbitrarily  classified 
as  representing  six  magnitudes  of  light. 

But  the  telescope  reveals  galaxy  on  galaxy  of 
otherwise  invisible  stars,  the  numbers  increasing  in 

34 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

geometrical  ratio  with  each  decrease  of  magnitude. 
A  one-inch  glass  shows  stars  of  about  the  ninth  mag- 
nitude, to  the  number  of  more  than  a  million  and  a 
quarter.  A  three-inch  glass  opens  up  vistas  that  in- 
clude twelfth  magnitude  stars.  The  twenty-five-inch 
lens  shows  sixteenth  magnitude  stars  to  the  number 
of  at  least  one  hundred  million;  the  forty-inch  Yerkes 
lens  brings  to  view  yet  remoter  galaxies;  and  the  five 
foot  Mt.  Wilson  reflector  records  on  the  photo- 
graphic plate,  in  myriads  beyond  all  computing,  stars 
estimated  by  Professor  Pickering  at  the  twentieth 
magnitude. 

Newcomb  computes  that  the  telescope  reveals 
stars  10,000  times  fainter  than  the  faintest  to  be  seen 
with  the  naked  eye.  Ball  tells  us  that  the  modern 
telescope  "separates"  double  stars  that  are  so  near 
together  that  to  see  them  double  is  equivalent  to 
separating  two  candles  less  than  two  inches  apart  at 
a  distance  of  forty  miles. 

THE  WONDER-WORKING  SPECTROSCOPE 

And  where  the  telescope  fails  us,  the  spectroscope 
takes  up  the  work  of  extending  the  limits  of  the  visi- 
ble. This  instrument,  which  consists  essentially  of 
a  prism  or  a  finely  ruled  grating  which  splits  up  a 
beam  of  white  light  into  the  primary  colors,  analyzes 
the  light  of  distant  stars  (except  the  very  most  dis- 
tant which  are  too  faint  with  present  telescopic 
powers)  as  readily  as  it  analyzes  the  light  of  a  hydro- 
gen flame  in  the  laboratory.  It  serves  also  to  reveal 
any  movement  of  a  star  in  the  line  of  sight.  If  the 
star  is  coming  toward  us  the  light  waves  are,  as  it 

35 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

were,  crowded  together  and  thus  its  spectral  lines  are 
shifted  toward  the  violet  end  of  the  spectrum;  if  it  is 
receding,  they  are  shifted  toward  the  red  end. 

By  measuring  the  shift  of  the  spectral  lines,  the 
astronomer  tests  the  speed  of  a  star  flight  with  mar- 
velous accuracy.  With  the  newest  instruments,  his 
range  of  error  is  scarcely  greater  than  three-fifths  of 
a  mile  per  second  in  the  case  of  bodies  moving  ten 
miles  or  fifty  miles  per  second.  He  can  even  measure 
the  speed  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit  by  noting  the  seem- 
ing approach  and  regression  of  a  given  star  at  half 
yearly  intervals. 

Or  again  by  observing  that  the  spectral  lines  of 
a  certain  star  shift  periodically  back  and  forth  regard- 
less of  the  earth's  movement,  he  is  informed  that  the 
star  in  question  is  revolving  in  a  mutual  orbit  with 
some  other  star.  The  spectroscope  may  thus  "re- 
solve" double  stars  that  are  far  too  close  to  be  sep- 
arated visibly  in  the  most  powerful  telescope.  In- 
deed, the  star  whose  presence  is  thus  demonstrated — 
the  very  size  and  weight  of  which  may  in  some  cases 
be  estimated — may  be  a  dark  body  that  must  forever 
remain  invisible  to  all  telescopic  powers. 

The  spectroscope  is,  then,  a  chief  instrument  of 
the  astronomer's  equipment.  The  new  science  of 
astro-physics  is  the  record  of  its  revelations.  The 
spectroscope  as  used  by  the  astronomer  has  found 
its  fullest  development  perhaps  in  the  Mills  spectro- 
graph  of  the  Lick  Observatory,  and  the  spectro- 
graphs  in  connection  with  the  Snow  telescope  and 
the  Tower  telescopes  of  Mt.  Wilson.  An  interesting 
and  important  modification  of  the  instrument  is  Pro- 

36 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

fessor  Male's  spectroheliograph,  with  which  wonder- 
ful photographs  are  made  that  reveal  the  location  in 
different  layers  of  the  sun's  atmosphere  of  hydrogen 
gas,  calcium  vapor,  and  other  chemicals. 

AIDS  TO  VISION  SUPPLIED  BY  PHOTOGRAPHY 

The  photographic  plate  had  proved  in  recent  years 
almost  as  important  an  accessory  as  the  spectroscope. 
It  reveals  and  charts  with  accuracy  myriads  of  invisi- 
ble stars.  It  co-operates  with  the  spectroscope  by 
making  a  permanent  record  of  the  tell-tale  lines 
which  that  instrument  dissects  out  of  a  beam  of  light. 

So  important,  indeed,  is  the  photographic  plate, 
that  it  largely  takes  the  place  of  the  human  eye  in 
direct  observation  of  the  heavens.  Prof.  W.  W. 
Campbell  says  that  a  six-inch  telescope  and  a  photo- 
graphic plate  will  measure  the  velocities  of  stars  that 
could  not  be  tested  by  the  eye  alone  with  the  great 
36-inch  lens  of  the  Lick  Observatory.  The  32-inch 
lens  of  the  Potsdam  Observatory  is  designed  exclu- 
sively for  photographic  work,  and  not  for  direct 
vision.  No  lens  brings  all  the  rays  of  light  quite  to 
the  same  focus,  and  the  rays  that  are  best  for  photo- 
graphic purposes  are  not  those  best  for  direct  vision. 
So  a  selection  must  be  made.  This  does  not  apply, 
however,  to  the  reflecting  telescope,  the  mirror  of 
which  may  be  made  to  bring  all  the  rays  to  an  accu- 
rate focus. 

The  task  of  taking  photographs  with  these  large 
telescopes  is  an  exceedingly  delicate  one.  Sometimes 
the  negative  must  be  exposed  for  many  hours  or  even 
on  successive  nights,  and  it  is  necessary;  to  keep 

37 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

telescope  aimed  with  the  utmost  accuracy.  This  is 
effected  with  the  aid  of  a  small  direct-vision  telescope 
with  two  spider  webs  crossed  in  the  field  of  vision. 
The  task  of  the  observer  is  to  keep  a  certain  star  just 
at  the  juncture  of  the  cobwebs.  It  is  precisely  the 
same  method  by  which  a  gunner  aims  the  gigantic 
cannon  on  a  modern  battleship.  But  the  astrono- 
mer's task  must  be  kept  up  for  hours  together. 
Moreover  it  is  necessary  occasionally  to  remove  the 
plate  and  refocus  the  instrument,  to  make  allowance 
for  changes  in  temperature. 

The  net  result,  however,  in  the  hands  of  such  an 
expert  as  Professor  Ritchie,  is  to  produce,  with  the 
five-foot  reflector  at  Mt.  Wilson,  photographs  show- 
ing myriads  of  stars  never  hitherto  revealed.  It 
shows  also  the  presence  of  unpredicted  nebulosities 
in  connection  with  certain  stars.  But,  except  for  such 
nebulosities,  the  brightest  and  faintest  stars  alike  are 
revealed  only  as  points  of  light  even  by  this  most 
powerful  of  telescopes. 

The  chief  value  of  the  star  photographs,  as  at 
present  studied,  is  not  so  much  dependent  on  the 
revelations  of  the  myriads  of  fainter  stars,  as  upon  the 
accurate  charting  of  the  positions  of  stars  that  are 
nearer.  Practically  all  recent  additions  to  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  motions  of  the  stars  have  been  made 
through  study  of  the  photographic  plates.  Indeed, 
the  modern  astronomer  is  much  more  likely  to  be 
found  comparing  photographic  negatives  in  his  labor- 
atory than  scanning  the  skies  through  a  telescope. 

Doubtless  the  most  interesting  things  revealed  by 
the  modern  observations  of  the  stars  relate  to  the. 

33 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

movements  of  those  supposedly  "fixed"  bodies.  The 
seeming  fixity  of  the  stars  is  merely  due  to  their  dis- 
tance. In  point  of  fact  they  are  flying  through  space, 
singly,  in  pairs,  in  groups,  clusters,  and  swarms,  or 
in  vast  streams  of  incomprehensible  magnitude. 
Some  of  them  move  upward  of  150  miles  per  second; 
and  the  average  speed  of  the  very  large  number 
hitherto  tested,  according  to  Professor  W.  W.  Camp- 
bell of  Lick  Observatory,  is  20.2  miles  per  second. 
Our  particular  star,  the  sun,  with  his  attendant 
planets,  moves  through  space  at  the  rate  of  about 
twelve  and  a  half  miles  per  s,econd,  making  therefore 
in  point  of  speed,  as  in  the  matter  of  size,  a  rather 
poor  showing; — yet  after  all  shifting  our  position  in 
space  by  about  367,000,000  miles  each  year. 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  SUN  AND  STARS 

Nothing  perhaps  shows  the  wizardry  of  the 
modern  astronomer  to  better  advantage  than  his 
revelations  regarding  this  matter  of  the  movements 
of  the  stars.  To  appreciate  the  complexity  of  the 
problem,  we  must  reflect  that  the  mundane  observa- 
tory shifts  its  position  in  virtue  of  the  earth's  rota- 
tion by  something  like  a  thousand  miles  an  hour;  that 
the  earth  wabbles  as  it  whirls  and  plunges  through 
space  at  the  rate  of  about  nineteen  miles  per  second 
in  order  to  compass  its  annual  journey  about  the  sun, 
while  at  the  same  time  being  carried  in  yet  another 
direction  at  twelve  and  a  half  miles  per  second  by  the 
translational  motion  of  the  entire  solar  system.  The 
net  result  is  that  the  actual  course  described  in  space 
by  the  earth  is  a  zigzag  spiral,  to  attempt  to  conceive 

39 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

which  in  its  entirety  involves  the  non-mathematical 
mind  in  hopeless  tangles.  But  it  will  be  obvious  that 
any  observations  of  the  seeming  movements  of  stellar 
objects  viewed  from  the  earth  must  be  checked  and 
interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  actual  movements  of 
the  earth  itself,  else  they  would  be  almost  as  hope- 
lessly faulty  as  was  the  primitive  conception  that  the 
sun  and  stars  revolve  about  us. 

Notwithstanding  the  complexities  of  the  problem, 
the  modern  astronomer  has  been  able  to  gain  some 
tolerably  clear  notions  as  to  the  movements  of  the 
million  or  so  of  stars  that  lie  nearest  us  in  space. 
The  more  distant  galaxies,  to  be  sure,  show  no  shift 
whatever  in  position,  so  far  as  present  observations 
go;  but  this  fact  has  its  advantages,  inasmuch  as  the 
faint  objects  in  the  background  supply  fixed  points 
of  comparison,  which  alone  make  possible  the  demon- 
stration of  the  movements  of  the  nearer  stars. 

It  will  be  obvious  from  what  has  just  been  said 
as  to  the  movements  of  the  earth  itself  that  the  ap- 
parent movement  of  such  stars  as  are  near  enough 
to  reveal  any  shift  of  position  at  all  will  be  of  sundry 
types.  As  the  solar  system  drifts  forward  through 
space  at  the  rate  of  twelve  and  a  half  miles  per  sec- 
ond, the  nearer  stars  will  seem  year  by  year  to  drift 
backward  as  compared  with  distant  stars,  just  as 
nearby  objects  viewed  from  a  car  window  seem  to 
move  backward.  Meantime  this  backward  drift  will 
be  complicated  by  the  actual  movements  in  different 
directions  of  the  stars  themselves.  A  star  may,  for 
example,  be  moving  so  rapidly  in  a  course  parallel  to 
ours  that  it  shows  a  forward  instead  of  a  backward 

40 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

drift,  just  as  another  railroad  train  may  pass  ours 
even  when  we  are  going  at  best  speed.  Or  the  star 
may  be  moving  at  an  angle  to  our  line  of  flight,  and 
hence  the  direction  of  its  backward  drift  may  be 
angular. 

TESTING  PROPER  MOTION 

Ignoring  for  the  moment  complications  due  to  the 
actual  motion  of  the  stars,  it  will  be  obvious  that, 
generally  speaking,  the  backward  drift — the  astrono- 
mer calls  it  "proper  motion" — will  be  greatest  in 
case  of  the  nearest  stars  and  relatively  less  as  stars 
become  more  and  more  distant.  It  is  equally  obvious 
that,  inasmuch  as  the  earth  goes  forward  by  about 
367,000,000  miles  in  a  year,  the  backward  drift  or 
proper  motion  of  the  stars  should  be  very;  conspicu- 
ous, unless  the  stars  are  infinitely  distant.  But  we 
have  already  seen  that  the  stars  are  exceedingly  dis- 
tant; and  perhaps  nothing  brings  their  aloofness  more 
vividly  to  our  comprehension  than  to  be  told  that  the 
shift  in  position  of  even  the  very  nearest  stars  is  so 
slight  year  by  year  that  it  would  not  change  the 
naked-eye  aspect  of  the  heavens  appreciably  in  a 
thousand  years,  although  the  earth  has  gone  forward 
uninterruptedly  at  a  speed  of  45,000  miles  an  hour 
during  the  entire  period. 

But  of  course  shifts  in  position  that  are  quite  in- 
appreciable to  the  naked  eye  are  magnified  by  thje 
telescope  to  measureable  and  even  conspicuous  di- 
mensions. So  changes  that  would  not  be  noted  by 
the  naked  eye  in  a  century  or  a  millenium  may  be 
recorded  by  the  telescope  even  year  by;  year.  More- 

4  41 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

over,  there  are  exceptional  stars  the  apparent  motion 
of  which  is  notable.  Thus  there  is  an  eighth 
magnitude  star,  detected  by  Professor  Kapteyn  in 
the  photographic  charts  taken  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  which  seems  to  move  by  an  amount  represent- 
ing 8.7  seconds  of  arc  per  year;  a  shift  that  would 
carry  it  across  an  apparent  distance  equal  to  the 
diameter  of  the  full  moon  in  two  centuries. 

With  changes  such  as  these  the  astronomer  deals 
readily  enough;  yet  we  must  reflect  that  the  annual 
change  in  position  of  this,  most  rapidly  moving  star 
is  equivalent  to  a  shift  of  only  one  foot  in  an  object 
viewed  at  a  distance  of  four  and  a  half  miles. 
Furthermore  there  is  no  other  star  known  to  move 
anything  like  as  fast  as  this;  and  there  are  only  six- 
teen stars  all  told  that  change  position  one-third  as 
fast.  The  only  one  of  these  that  is  visible  to  the 
naked  eye  is  the  famous  star  Alpha  Centauri,  our 
nearest  neighbor,  which  appears  at  second  magni- 
tude, and  which  would  shift  position  across  the  face 
of  the  moon  in  about  five  hundred  years. 

DIRECTION  OF  THE  SUN*S  FLIGHT 

A  fractional  part  of  such  a  movement  as  this  suf- 
fices, ho.wever,  for  the  tests  of  the  astronomer;  and 
as  comparison  of  the  present-day  positions  of  the 
stars  may  be  made  with  certain  accurate  star  charts 
of  earlier  generations  (notably  that  of  Bradley  made 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century),  the 
astronomer  of  our  day  can  show  the  exact  direction 
of  backward  drift  or  proper  motion  of  a  very  large 
number  of  stars.  Photographic  plates  taken  at  in- 

42 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

tervals  of  years  reveal  these  shifts  of  position  even 
more  tangibly;  particularly  when  two  photographs 
are  viewed  through  a  binocular  apparatus,  as  the 
stars  that  have  changed  position  then  seem  to  stand 
out  of  the  picture. 

In  so  far  as  the  changed  position  is  due  to  the  back- 
ward drift  of  which  we  are  speaking,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  projected  lines  of  seeming  motion  of  various 
stars  will  converge,  like  the  rails  of  a  car  track,  to  a 
vanishing  point  that  marks  the  antapex  of  the  sun's 
flight.  In  this  way  we  gain  a  pretty  clear  notion  as 
to  the  direction  of  movement  of  the  sun  relatively  to 
the  other  stars.  It  appears  that  we  are  moving  almost 
directly  away  from  the  present  position  of  Sirius,  the 
brightest  star  in  the  heavens ;  and  that  we  are  aiming 
at  a  point  which  chances  to  lie  about  fifteen  degrees 
southwest  of  the  well-known  bright  star  Vega  in  the 
constellation  Lyra. 

Sirius  is  brilliant  in  the  southeastern  sky,  while 
Vega  is  only  less  conspicuous  in  the  northwest,  on  any; 
clear  night  in  winter;  so  the  most  casual  observer 
may  gain  a  fairly  clear  notion  as  to  the  general  direc- 
tion of  our  flight  through  space. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  add  that  Vega  is  coming 
toward  us  almost  as  fast  as  we  are  moving  toward 
him,  so  that  each  night  we  are  nearer  to  him  by  about 
2,000,000  miles  than  we  were  the  night  before.  But  as 
some  thirty  light-years  of  space  separate  us,  the  time 
when  we  shall  meet  is  not  to  be  scheduled  among 
events  of  the  near  future.  And  even  as  they  pass  each 
other,  it  appears  that  the  two  stars  will  not  be  near 
enough  together  for  appreciable  mutual  effect.  This 

43 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

is  fortunate  for  our  system  as  Vega  is  a  hundred  times 
brighter  than  our  sun. 

MEASURING  STAR  DISTANCES  AND  SPEEDS 

It  will  be  obvious  that  the  amount  of  proper 
motion  or  backward  drift  of  a  star  gives  us  at  least 
a  general  notion  of  the  distance  of  the  star.  A  more 
accurate  determination  of  the  distances,  however,  may 
be  made  by  viewing  the  star  from  exactly  opposite 
sides  of  the  earth's  orbit,  and  thus  utilizing  the  inter- 
vening space  of  186,000,000  miles  as  a  base  line,  some- 
what as  the  surveyor  utilizes  base  lines  of  carefully 
measured  length  in  his  triangles.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  shift  of  position  of  a  star  due  to  its  being  viewed 
from  opposite  sides  of  the  earth's  orbit  will  be  oscil- 
latory in  character,  as  contrasted  with  background 
stars  that  show  no  change  of  position. 

It  is  also  obvious  that  the  amount  of  this  shift 
will  be  much  smaller  than  the  annual  proper  motion, 
since  the  sun's  flight  carries  us  over  an  annual  dis- 
tance almost  double  the  diameter  of  the  earth's  orbit  ; 
nor  can  we  magnify  the  result  by  taking  observa- 
tions at  intervals  of  years  as  in  the  other  case.  It 
follows  that  the  oscillation  due  to  the  sun's  annual 
revolution  is  so  slight,  even  in  the  case  of  the  very 
nearest  stars,  as  to  be  exceedingly  difficult  of  detec- 
tion. For  the  vast  body  even  of  the  stars  that  have 
proper  motion  it  is  entirely  beyond  reach  of  observa- 
tion with  any  existing  instruments. 

When  this  semi-annual  oscillatory  shift  can  be 
detected,  however,  it  affords  the  most  accurate 
means  of  determining  the  exact  distance  of  a  star. 

44 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

This  test  is  calledi  measuring  the  star's  parallax.  The 
test  is  made  by  noting  the  position  of  a  star  in  re- 
lation to  other  stars,  preferably  by  photography  at 
intervals  of  just  six  months.  For  purposes  of  com- 
parison, some  astronomers  prefer  to  take  successive 
negatives  on  the  same  plate,  a  method  introduced 
by  Professor  Kapteyn.  Three  exposures  are  neces- 
sary at  intervals  of  six  months,  that  allowance  may 
be  made  for  the  earth's  progressive  motion  as  well 
as  for  its  orbital  swing.  The  delicacy  of  the  test  will 
be  appreciated  when  it  is  stated  that  the  half-yearly 
shift  of  position  of  the  star  that  is  our  nearest  neigh- 
bor in  space  is  only  three-quarters  of  a  second  of  arc. 
Reduced  to  comprehensible  terms,  this  is  equivalent 
to  a  shift  of  position  of  about  one  inch  in  an  object 
at  a  distance  of  five  miles.  Only  seventeen  stars  are 
known  to  have  a  parallax  exceeding  about  one-fourth 
this  amount.  To  test  such  minute  changes,  the  larg- 
est telescopes  are  needed;  the  Lick  refractor  with 
its  sixty-foot  barrel  being  peculiarly  effective. 

Professor  Eddington,  of  the  Royal  Observatory 
of  England,  has  recently  pointed  out  that  there  is  a 
good  deal  of  uncertainty  about  the  precise  value  of 
the  parallax  in  the  case  of  a  good  many  of  the  stars 
that  have  been  tested.  But  it  gives  us  an  illuminating 
sense  of  the  marvelous  accuracy  of  modern  measure- 
ments to  note  his  interpretation  of  "uncertainty"  in 
the  present  sense.  He  explains  that  the  measure- 
ments in  a  good  many  cases  may  be  wrong  by  a 
matter  of  five-hundredths  of  a  second,  which 
represents  a  variation  of  three-fifths  of  an  inch  at 
forty  miles  distance.  Meanwhile  he  assures  us  that 

45 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

the  repeated  measurements  of  the  nearest  star  are  so 
in  accord  that  we  may  confidently  assume  that  they 
are  accurate  within  one-tenth  of  a  second. 

And  this  is  the  equivalent  of  one-eighth  of  an  inch 
at  forty  miles. 

If  we  reduce  the  results  of  this  measurement  to 
figures,  it  appears  that  the  distance  of  the  nearest 
star  (it  is  called  Alpha  Centauri)  is  nearly  26,000,- 
000,000,000  miles — with  a  latitude,  as  Professor  H. 
B.  Curtis  of  Lick  Observatory  cautions  us,  of  perhaps 
two  hundred  billion  miles  for  errors  or  inaccuracy 
of  observation.  But  this  star  is  very  neighborly 
indeed;  for  the  next  nearest  is'twice  as  far  away,  and 
the  generality  of  the  measured  stars  are  forty  or 
fifty  times  as  distant. 

Meantime  it  must  be  understood  that  only  a  very 
small  company  of  stars  are  near  enough  to  show  any 
parallax  whatever,  even  under  the  magnifying  powers 
of  the  most  powerful  existing  telescopes.  With  these 
few  hundred  exceptions,  the  vast  myriads  of  stars 
that  sprinkle  the»photographic  plate  like  dust,  show 
no  discernible  change  of  position  when  viewed  from 
the  opposite  ends  of  our  186,000,000  mile  base  line. 

Of  course  telescope  and  photographic  plate,  how- 
ever perfected,  can  tell  only  of  shift  of  position  across 
the  line  of  sight.  A  star  might  be  coming  directly 
toward  us  or  receding  directly  for  an  indefinite  period 
without  shifting  its  position  on  the  photographic 
plate.  But  here,  as  we  have  seen,  the  spectroscope 
steps  in  to  record  "line  of  sight"  motion  in  either 
direction. 

It   makes    no   difference  at  all  that  the  star  may 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

be  so  distant  from  the  earth  that  the  light  coming 
from  it  at  the  rate  of  about  186,000  miles  per  second 
has  required  many  years  to  reach  us.  So  it  is  pos- 
sible to  measure  the  radial  speed  of  multitudes  of 
stars  that  are  too  'distant  to  show  any  parallax  or  to 
have  their  shift  of  position  across  the  line  of  sight 
observed  even  by  the  most  delicate  methods.  For 
many  years  Professor  W.  W.  Campbell,  Director  of 
the  Lick  Observatory,  devoted  a  large  amount  of 
time  to  testing  the  speeds  of  stars  with  the  famous 
Mills  spectrograph.  In  1911  he  was  able  to  generalize 
his  results,  and  to  show  that  the  large  number  of 
stars  observed,  when  tested  by  their  speed,  tend  to 
fall  into  interesting  and  suggestive  groups.  There 
were  some  complications  and  seeming  inconsisten- 
cies, as  there  usually  are  when  human  observation  of 
complex  facts  is  in  question,  but,  viewing  the  data 
as  a  whole,  this  highly  interesting  and  utterly  unex- 
pected generalization  seems  to  stand  forth:  "The 
older  a  star  is,  the  quicker  it  moves." 

It  had  long  been  known  that  there  is  great  vari- 
ation in  the  speed  of  stars.  Our  sun,  for  example, 
with  its  planetary  attendants,  is  moving  through 
space  at  the  rate  of  12  or  13  miles  a  second;  whereas 
there  are  stars  that  are  observed  to  move  upward  of 
200  miles  a  second.  But  hitherto  there  had  been 
nothing  to  suggest  that  the  difference  in  speed  was 
in  any  wise  related  to  the  age  of  the  stellar  body. 
Therefore  Professor  Campbell's  observations  came 
as  an  entire  surprise  to  the  astronomical  world.  A 
new  coign  of  vantage,  so  to  speak,  was  supplied 
from  which  to  gain  a  glimpse  into  that  great  ultimate 

47 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

problem  as  to  the  origin  and  destiny  of  the  universe 
which  persistently  thrusts  itself  upon  the  attention 
of  every  speculative  mind. 

WHY  DO  OLD  STARS  MOVE  RAPIDLY? 

In  Professor  Campbell's  own  words  "that  stellar 
velocities  should  be  functions  of  spectral  types  (i.e., 
should  vary  with  the  age  of  the  star)  is  one  of  the 
most  surprising  results  of  the  recent  studies  in  stellar 
motions,  for  we  naturally  think  of  all  matter  as  equally 
old  gravitationally.  Why  should  not  the  materials 
comprising  a  nebula  [nacent  star]  or  a  class  B  [com- 
paratively young]  star  have  been  acted  on  as  long  and 
as  effectively  as  the  materials  in  the  class  M  [very 
old]  star?" 

The  rigidly  scientific  cast  of  Professor  Campbell's 
mind  prevents  him  from  attempting  to  give  a  decisive 
and  final  answer  to  this  question.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  !does  not  prevent  him  from  suggesting  a 
scientific  interpretation;  only  he  is  careful  to  avoid 
all  appearance  of  dogmatism — even  going  to  the 
length  of  putting  his  explanations  in  the  form  of 
question. 

Let  me  again  quote  his  words :  "The  established' 
fact  of  increasing  stellar  velocities  with  increasing 
ages  suggests  the  questions:  Are  stellar  materials  in 
the  ante-stellar  state  subject  to  Newton's  law  of 
gravitation?  Do  these  materials  exist  in  forms  so 
finely  divided  that  repulsion  under  radiation  pressure 
more  or  less  closely  balances  gravitational  attraction? 
Does  gravity  become  effective  only  after  the  proces- 
ses of  combination  are  well  under  way?" 

48 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

Notwithstanding  the  interrogative  form  in  which 
this  explanation  is  put  forward,  we  are  perhaps  fully 
justified  in  assuming  that  Professor  Campbell's  ques- 
tion marks  are  only  the  shield — I  had  almost  said 
subterfuge — with  which  an  ultra-scientific  mind  often 
tends  to  protect  itself  against  the  charge  of  hasty 
generalizing.  In  point  of  fact,  the  explanation  sug- 
gested in  his  questions  seems  not  only  an  altogether 
valid  interpretation  of  observed  phenomena,  but  con- 
stitutes perhaps  the  only  plausible  explanation  that 
could  be  suggested  consistently  with  our  present 
knowledge. 

Yet  to  any  reader  who  has  not  kept  closely  in 
touch  with  recent  advances  in  physical  science,  the 
explanation  must  seem  altogether  startling.  To  sug- 
gest that  there  are  forms*  of  matter  not  subject  to 
Newton's  law  of  gravitation  would  have  seemed  to 
the  physicist  of  even  a  dozen  years  ago  a  most  hereti- 
cal and  unjustifiable  assault  upon  the  most  funda- 
mental of  physical  laws.  Ever  since  Newton  pro- 
pounded his  thesis  that  every  particle  of  matter  in 
the  universe  attracts  every  other  particle  with  a  force 
inversely  as  the  square  of  distance  between  the 
particles  and  directly  as  the  product  of  their  masses, 
this  "law,"  which  seemed  to  explain  all  the  motions 
of  the  planetary  bodies  and  the  revolutions  of  double 
stars  no  less  than  the  fall  of  bodies  at  the  earth's  sur- 
face, has  been  the  very  corner-stone  of  physical 
science. 

(Yet  Professor  Campbell  suggests  that  there  is  a 
stage  of  stellar  development  at  which  matter  seems 
not  to  be  subject  to  this  law. 

49 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

But  lest  the  uninitiated  suppose  that  this  sugges- 
tion is  altogether  anarchistic,  let  me  hasten  to  add 
that  Professor  Campbell  does  not  mean  to  imply 
quite  what  his  words  seem  to  suggest.  He  does  not 
for  a  moment  suppose  that  there  was  ever  a  time 
when  Newton's  law  of  gravitation  was  not  operative; 
he  means  only  that  there  may  be  conditions  under, 
which  its  action  is  overcome  by  antagonistic  forces. 

When  you  throw  a  pebble  into  the  air,  you  mo- 
mentarily annul  the  power  of  gravitation  over  that 
stone.  But  even  while  the  pebble  is  flying  straight 
upward,  in  seeming  defiance  of  gravity,  it  is  being 
acted  on  just  as  definitely  and  just  as  vigorously  by; 
the  gravitation  pull  as  before;  only  the  force  of  pro- 
pulsion given  by  your  arm-thrust  masks  and  for  the 
moment  overbalances  that  resistant  downward  pull. 

LIGHT  PRESSURE  AS  A  COSMIC  FORCE 

And  so  it  is,  according  to  Professor  Campbell's 
suggested  hypothesis,  with  the  materials  that  make 
up  the  nebulous  mass,  which,  according  to  the  best 
modern  notions  of  the  astronomer,  constitutes  the 
first  stage  of  star-development.  The  reader  who  has 
not  viewed  a  nebula  through  a  telescope  has  doubt- 
less seen  reproductions  of  photographs  of  nebulae,  or 
at  any  rate  of  a  comet,  the  tail  of  which  is  a  nebula 
in  miniature.  It  will  be  recalled,  therefore,  that  a 
nebula  seems  to  be  made  up  of  very  fine  particles  of 
matter.  Professor  Campbell  suggests  that  these 
particles  of  matter  are  so  subject  to  "radiation  pres- 
sure" that  their  tendency  to  gravitation  toward  other 
bodies  is  for  the  moment  overcome. 

50 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

Now  "radiation  pressure,"  being  interpreted, 
means  the  pressure  of  light.  The  most  familiar  and 
striking  evidence  of  the  efficiency  of  this  force — the 
existence  of  which  has  only  quite  recently  been 
revealed  to  the  physicist — is  furnished  by  the  tail 
of  a  comet,  which,  according  to  the  most  recent  and 
most  generally  accepted  explanation,  consists  simply 
of  fine  particles  of  matter  driven  off  from  the  body 
of  the  comet,  itself  a  more  or  less  nebulous  mass,  by 
the  "radiation  pressure"  of  sunlight.  The  familiar 
observation  that  the  tail  of  the  comet  always  points 
away  from  the  sun  gives  obvious  support  to  this 
hypothesis. 

Professor  Campbell's  suggestion,  then,  amounts 
to  this:  That  a  nebula  consists  wholly  or  in  part  of 
finely  divided  particles  of  matter  which  are  thrust 
hither  and  yon  in  seeming  defiance  of  the  laws  of 
gravitation,  by  the  light-pressure  of  myriads  of  in- 
candescent stars.  In  due  course,  however,  the  fine 
particles  of  matter  become  aggregated — say  through 
collision — and!  thus  become  too  large  for  the  light- 
waves to  act  on  them  effectively; — for,  be  it  under- 
stood, "radiation  pressure"  can  oppose  gravitation 
effectively  only  when  acting  on  very  minute  particles ; 
somewhat  as  a  man  can  oppose  it  by  hurling  upward 
pebbles  but  not  boulders. 

So  when  the  nebulous  particles  have  sufficiently 
aggregated  they  begin  to  fall  together,  under  the 
influence  of  gravitation,  presently  becoming  so  con- 
centrated as  to  form  the  more  or  less  solid  body  that 
we  call  a  star.  Thenceforth  this  body,  undergoing 
a  series  of  internal  transformations  which  cause  the 

51 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

astronomer  to  label  it  a  star  of  class  B,  C,  D,  etc., 
must  move  in  response  to  the  aggregate  gravitation 
pull  of  the  stellar  bodies  that  make  up  the  universe. 
In  effect  it  must  fall  (so  it  would  seem)  toward  the 
gravitation-center  of  the  universe,  and  as  time  goes 
on  it  will  gather  speed  in  its  fall,  just  as  a  body 
directed  from  a  height  gathers  speed  in  falling  to- 
ward the  earth's  surface.  The  older  the  star,  then, 
the  greater  its  momentum — which  brings  us  back  to 
the  matter  of  fact  of  Professor  Campbell's  observa- 
tions. 

If  the  reader's  imagination  leads  him  to  ask 
whether  there  is  any  limit  to  the  ultimate  speed  at- 
tainable, the  answer  would  seem  to  be  that,  sooner 
or  later,  the  flying  star  will  come  into  collision  with 
some  other  flying  star;  when  the  two  bodies,  by 
mutual  impact,  will  be  reduced  once  more  to  the 
original  nebulous  state; — their  speed  thus  retarded; 
their  direction  of  flight  altered;  their  particles  mo- 
mentarily dissipated;  their  cycle  of  world-develop- 
ment ending  in  a  new  beginning. 

This  imagined  culmination,  it  should  be  explained, 
is  no  part  of  the  generalization  from  Professor  Camp- 
bell's observations,  but  a  conclusion  warranted  by 
other  lines  of  astronomical  research. 

OUR  SUN  AND  ITS  NEIGHBORS 

All  these  varied  observations  imply  that  our  solar 
system  is  isolated  in  space,  separated  from  the  nearest 
neighboring  stars  by  unthinkable  distances.  Yet  we 
must  recall  that  in  the  astronomical  sense  our  sun 
is  itself  a  star  closely  similar  to  millions  of  others. 

52 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

Nor  can  we  suppose  that  in  the  cosmic  scheme  it  is 
an  important  member  of  the  galaxy.  Certainly  if 
size  and  brilliancy  are  to  be  taken  as  tests  of  im- 
portance, our  sun  makes  but  a  mediocre  showing. 

Take  for  example,  by  way  of  illustration,  a  com- 
putation made  recently  by  the  Dutch  astronomer 
Professor  Kapteyn.  He  estimates  that  of  the  million 
and  a  quarter  stars  visible  with  a  hand  glass  having 
a  one-inch  lens,  there  are  about  27  stars  that  are  from 
1,000  to  100,000  times  as  bright  as  the  sun;  there  are 
1300  others  that  are  more  than  a  hundred  times  as 
bright  as  the  sun;  22,000  that  are  more  than  ten  times 
as  bright;  and  140,000  that  match  the  sun  or  do  not 
greatly  exceed  him.  Thus,  of  our  relatively  near 
neighbors  (using  terms  now  in  an  astronomical  sense) 
there  are  at  least  100,000  stars  which  if  brought  as 
near  to  us  as  the  sun  would  quite  outshine  him, 
some  of  them  outmatching  him  thousands  of  times 
over.  But  on  the  other  hand  within  the  same  radius 
of  distance  there  are  more  than  a  million  other  stars 
that  must  be  classed  as  less  bright  than  the  sun; — half 
a  million  of  them  very  much  less  bright.  So  on  the 
whole  we  may  feel  that  our  luminary  is  a  fairly  repre- 
sentative star,  though  distinctly  nothing  to  boast  of. 

It  will  be  understood  that  this  computation  of  Pro- 
fessor Kapteyn's  has  to  do  only  with  a  comparatively; 
small  number  of  stars  lying  relatively  near  to  us. 
Specifically  the  stars  in  question  are  those  that  lie 
within  a  distance  of  about  560  light-years, — that  is  to 
say  the  distance  that  light  would  travel  in  560  years. 
When  we  reflect  that  light  travels  186,000  miles  per 
second,  it  will  be  clear  that  the  distances  contemplated 

53 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

are  to  be  translated  into  unthinkable  trillions  and 
quadrillions  of  miles.  Professor  Campbell's  studies 
show,  however,  that  stars  of  different  types  are  vari- 
ously grouped  in  the  universe  as  regards  their  average 
distances  from  the  earth.  He  found,  for  example,  that 
the  very  young  stars  on  his  list  show  an  average  dis- 
tance of  534  light-years;  whereas  stars  of  the  types 
most  like  our  sun  (F  and  G  stars  of  his  catalogue)  are 
on  the  average  only  92  and  145  light  years  distant  re- 
spectively. It  would  appear,  then,  that  our  sun  is  one 
of  a  great  cluster  of  similar  stars  located  relatively 
near  together. 

CLUSTERS,  GROUPS,  AND  STREAMS  OF  STARS 

If  we  view  the  galaxy  of  stars  from  yet  another 
standpoint,'  asking  what  has  been  revealed  as  to  the 
ultimate  structure  of  the  cosmic  mechanism,  we  learn 
that  a  combination  of  methods,  in  the  hands  of  many 
observers,  has  given  some  extraordinary  glimpses 
into  the  arrangement  of  at  least  those  portions  of  the 
universe  that  lie  somewhat  within  our  neighborhood. 

Considering  first  our  immediate  environment  in 
space,  it  appears  that  our  sun,  with  its  inconsequen- 
tial planetary  attendants,  is  one  of  a  company  of  sev- 
enteen stars  making  up  a  rather  compact  cluster  about 
ninety-five  billion  miles  in  diameter, — roughly  one 
million  times  the  earth's  distance  from  the  sun.  Seven 
of  these  stars  are  doubles.  Five  of  them  are  larger 
than  the  sun;  yet  all  are  comparatively  small,  the 
brightest  being  only  forty-eight  times  brighter  than 
the  sun;  whereas  there  are  more  distant  stars  in  the 
sky  that  are  ten  thousand  times  more  brilliant. 

54 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

Going  out  beyond  the  confines  of  our  immediate 
star  cluster,  we  find  various  interesting  groups  at 
what  might  be  called — gauging  our  mind  to  stellar 
magnitudes — moderate  distances. 

There  is,  for  example,  a  neighborly  cluster  of 
forty  stars  in  the  constellation  Taurus,  between  the 
Pleiades  and  the  bright  yellow  star  Aldebaran,  that 
Professor  Lewis  Boss,  of  Albany,  watched  with  tire- 
less assiduity  for  many  years,  using  the  proper 
motions  alone,  and  not  the  spectrographic  method. 
By  laborious  calculations  he  removed  one  source  of 
error  after  another,  until  finally  he  could  assure  us 
that  the  stars  of  the  Taurus  cluster  are  moving 
through  space  together  in  parallel  lines  at  uniform 
speed,  like  a  flock  of  birds.  They  are  120  light-years 
(800  million  million  miles)  away;  but  they  passed  us 
at  half  that  distance  about  8,000  centuries  ago, — 
though  the  cave  man  of  the  period  seems  to  have  left 
no  record  of  the  visit. 

Then  there  is  a  cluster  of  seventeen  helium  stars 
in  Perseus;  and  another  cluster  of  thirteen  stars  in 
the  Great  Bear,  which  seem  to  lie  in  about  the  same 
plane, — each  cluster  pursuing  its  own  independent 
way,  apparently  quite  unaffected  by  other  stars  that 
may  chance  to  have  wandered  into  the  same  territory. 

As  to  the  Great  Bear  cluster,  it  is  rather  surprising 
to  learn  that  of  the  seven  conspicuous  stars  forming 
the  "big  dipper,"  five  are  moving  uniformly  in  one 
direction  and  the  other  two  with  equal  uniformity 
in  quite  another  direction.  The  familiar  figure  of  the 
"big  dipper"  is  therefore  in  part  an  optical  illusion 
which  will  not  maintain  its  shape  throughout  future 

55 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

ages.  In  due  course  the  "pointers,"  for  example,  will 
cease  to  point  to  the  pole  star.  But  the  pole  itself 
is  shifting  as  our  little  globe  wabbles  through  space, 
so  this  does  not  greatly  matter.  Some  12,000  years 
from  now  Vega  will  be  the  pole  star,  and  no  pointers 
will  be  needed  to  indicate  that  brilliant  object. 

At  far  greater  distances  in  space  there  are  groups 
of  stars  of  the  Orion  or  helium  type,  which  have  a 
characteristic  spectrum  suggestive  of  a  recent  origin. 
These  are  sometimes  grouped  into  luminous  clouds, 
like  the  Pleiades  and  the  diffused  nebulosity  in  Orion. 
Some  of  these  stars  are  enormously  brilliant.  Rigel 
in  Orion,  for  example,  shines  at  first  magnitude. 
Were  it  no  brighter  than  our  sun  it  would  appear 
only  as  a  telescopic  star  of  tenth  magnitude. 

But  while  these  and  sundry  other  relatively  small 
groups  of  stars  are  pursuing  their  individual  flights 
in  one  direction  or  another,  their  movements — 
gigantic  though  they  seem  in  the  human  scale — are 
as  minor  eddies  in  the  two  vast  star  streams  that  are 
moving  in  opposite  directions  through  the  portion  of 
space  in  which  we  find  ourselves.  These  two  star 
streams,  comprising  not  less  than  half  a  million  mem- 
bers, including  most  of  the  brighter  stars,  have  met 
and  mingled  like  counter-currents  in  the  region  of 
space  about  us.  But  their  individual  members  are  so 
far  separated  that  danger  of  collision  is  minimized. 

The  discovery  of  these  gigantic  star  streams  was 
made  about  the  yeaf  1904  by  the  Dutch  astronomer 
Professor  Kapteyn,  of  Groningen,  in  the  course  of  his 
laborious  microscopic  measurements  of  the  loca- 
tion of  about  a  quarter  of  a  million  stars  on  number- 

56 


8.?  n 
2-g    w 


n 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

less  photographic  plates.  An  Englishman,  Mr.  H.  C. 
Plummer  made  the  same  discovery  through  independ- 
ent observations  almost  simultaneously. 

These  vast  star  streams  are  moving  in  nearly 
opposite  directions  in  the  plane  of  the  Milky  Way. 
But  they  do  not  include  the  stars  of  the  Milky  Way 
itself.  The  myriad  clusters  that  make  up  that  galaxy 
lie  far  out  beyond  the  star  streams.  So  distant  are 
they  that  they  show  neither  proper  motion  nor  paral- 
lax nor  actual  motion.  For  the  most  part  they  are 
too  faint  to  be  tested  accurately  with  the  spectro- 
scope. The  actual  forms  of  the  streams  or  clusters 
into  which  they  appear  to  be  grouped  are  as  yet  only 
matters  for  conjecture.  The  distances  at  which  these 
swarming  myriads  are  aggregated  staggers  even  the 
astronomical  imagination.  It  is  probably  not  less 
than  three  thousand  light-years. 

If  all  the  stars  of  the  Milky  Way  had  been  blotted 
out  of  existence  at  about  the  time  when  Moses  was 
leading  the  Children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  these 
stars  would  still  seem  to  shine  for  us  just  as  they  do. 
And  as  to  certain  of  the  nebulae,  the  question  has 
recently  been  revived  as  to  whether  they  may  not 
in  reality  constitute  isolated  universes  at  distances 
still  more  unthinkable — each  one  a  galaxy  of  stars 
comparable  to  our  own.  But  data  are  lacking  for 
adequate  judgment  as  to  this  conjecture. 

THE  SCHEME  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

If,  by  way  of  summary,  we  attempt  to  interpret 
the  observed  phenomena  of  star  clustering  and  star 
.movement  just  outlined,  it  would  appear  that  the 
s  57 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

bulk  of  the  stars,  exclusive  of  those  of  the  Milky 
Way,  form  a  vast  lens-shaped  structure. 

Our  solar  system  is  seemingly  not  far  from  the 
center  of  the  lens. 

The  far  'distant  clusters  that  make  up  the  Milky 
Way  lie  coiled  about  the  edges  of  the  lens. 

The  stars  that  make  .up  the  nearby  streaming; 
clusters  just  referred  to  all  lie  in  the  central  lens.  As 
we  turn  our  telescopes  toward  the  flattened  surface 
of  the  lens  (that  is  to  say,  toward  the  galactic  poles) 
the  stars  seem  to  thin  out.  Our  telescopes  seem  to 
penetrate  to  the  confines  of  the  universe  in  these  di- 
rections. Toward  the  rims  of  the  lens  the  thinning 
out  is  less  obvious,  since  we  now  take  in  the  countless 
myriads  of  the  Milky  Way;  yet  even  here  there  is  a 
relative  falling  off  in  numbers  as  the  smallest  magni- 
tudes are  reached,  suggesting  that  here  also  we  are 
actually  penetrating  to  the  confines  of  the  system, — 
if  you  please  to  the  borders  of  the  universe.  Clusters 
of  stars,  as  Mr.  S.  Waters  has  shown,  are  grouped 
in  the  region  of  the  Milky  Way;  whereas  nebulae 
group  themselves  as  far  as  possible  away  from  it. 
But  the  meaning  of  this  arrangement  no  one  at  pres- 
ent knows. 

As  we  attempt  to  picture  in  imagination  this  vast 
lenticular  structure  comprising  in  the  aggregate  all 
the  matter  of  the  universe,  the  thought  comes  nat- 
urally to  mind  that  the  entire  system  with  its  hun- 
dred million  or  thousand  million  stars  may  be  whirl- 
ing about  the  axis  of  the  galactic  poles,  with  some 
giant  sun — so  distant  that  it  seems  to  us  no  different 
from  other  stars — at  its  center  of  revolution. 

58 


CHARTING    THE    UNIVERSE 

The  suggestion  implies  no  obvious  improbability. 
The  entire  visible  universe  might  well  enough  be  one 
vast  spiral  nebula,  revolving  about  a  central  body  or 
about  a  center  of  gravity  in  empty  space.  But  this 
is  sheer  conjecture.  It  will  remain  for  the  star- 
gazers  of  the  ensuing  decades,  through  comparison 
of  photographic  star  charts  taken  at  long  intervals, 
to  find  out  whether  this  or  something  totally  differ- 
ent is  the  general  scheme  of  the  universe. 

Meantime  the  astronomers  of  our  own  day,  with 
their  studies  of  the  groupings  and  streamings  of  the 
nearer  stars,  have  given  us  clear  glimpses  into  cer- 
tain secrets  of  the  celestial  mechanism  that  only  yes- 
terday belonged  not  merely  to  the  unknown  but 
seemingly  to  the  unknowable. 


Ill 

WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

TO  speak  of  the  weight  of  the  world  is  to  take 
obvious  liberties  with  the  meaning  of  words. 
Weight  is  the  familiar  term  by  which  we  indicate 
the  attraction  exerted  by  the  earth  on  any  given 
portion  of  matter  at  its  surface.  Since  the  earth  as 
a  whole  obviously  can  not  attract  itself,  it  is  in  a 
sense  a  misnomer  to  speak  of  it  as  having  weight. 
A  more  exact  usage  of  words  makes  it  necessary  to 
speak  of  the  earth's  mass  rather  than  its  weight. 
But  inasmuch  as  the  only  method  of  determining 
the  mass  of  any  substance  with  which  the  average 
reader  is  familiar  is  to  determine  its  weight,  the  two 
words  have  come  to  seem  equivalents  in  common 
parlance,  and  to  speak  of  weighing  the  world  con- 
veys an  altogether  precise  and  accurate  idea  of  the 
feat  accomplished  in  what  is  more  technically,  de- 
cribed  as  determining  the  earth's  mass. 

There  are  several  methods  by  which  this  para- 
doxical feat  of  weighing  the  earth  may  be  accom- 
plished. The  one  which  was  first  put  to  the  test 
depends  upon  the  principle  of  determining  the  attrac- 
tive influence  of  the  mass  of  a  mountain  as  balanced 
against  the  attraction  of  the  earth  as  a  whole,  which 
latter  attraction,  it  should  be  explained,  is  exerted 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

precisely  as  if  the  entire  mass  of  the  earth  were 
located  at  its  center.  The  fact  that  the  gravitational 
influence  of  a  spherical  body  is  thus  exerted  was 
demonstrated  by  Newton  himself.  To  balance  the 
pull  of  a  mountain  against  the  pull  of  the  earth  is  not 
unlike  testing  the  strength  of  a  bar  of  steel  by  seeing 
how  much  it  is  bent  by  a  push  or  pull  of  known 
force.  A  fundamental  difficulty  with  the  method, 
however,  is  that  the  exact  mass  of  the  mountain  itself 
can  never  be  known  with  absolute  accuracy,  although 
careful  surveys  may  determine  the  precise  bulk  of 
the  mountain,  and  deep  borings  may  give  a  fairly 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  kind  of  rock  that  makes 
up  its  structure.  Nevertheless  a  certain  measure  of 
success  attended  this  method. 

TESTS   WITH   A   PENDULUM 

The  first  important  efforts  to  utilize  it  were  made 
by  a  French  commission  of  which  M.  Bouguer  was 
the  most  prominent  member,  which,  as  long  ago  as 
1740,  made  an  official  trip  to  South  America  the  chief 
purpose  of  which  was  the  measuring  of  a  degree  of 
latitude  at  the  equator.  The  commission  supplement- 
ed its  work,  however,  by  making  careful  observations 
of  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  at  various  high  alti- 
tudes, and  in  particular  on  a  plateau  of  the  Andes, 
as  compared  with  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  at  sea 
level.  It  has  been  understood  since  the  time  of  Gali- 
leo that  a  pendulum  of  given  length  oscillates  with 
unvarying  rapidity  at  the  sea  level.  The  rate  of 
oscillation  changes,  however,  if  the  pendulum  is  car- 
ried to  a  high  altitude,  being  thus  farther  removed 

61 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

from  the  focus  of  gravitation  at  the  earth's  center. 
Gravitation,  it  will  be  recalled,  decreases  with  the 
square  of  the  distance,  and  although  the  altitudes  at 
which  experiments  may  be  conducted  are  at  most 
only  a  few  miles,  as  contrasted  with  the  four  thou- 
sand mile  radius  of  the  earth,  yet  pendulums  may 
be  constructed  of  sufficient  delicacy  to  mark  the  dif- 
ference; and  of  course  the  theoretical  difference  be- 
tween the  earth's  gravitation  pull  at  sea  level  and  at 
an  altitude  of  let  us  say  five  miles  is  a  matter  of 
simple  computation.  Where,  however,  a  pendulum 
test  is  made  on  a  high  plateau,  the  disturbing  influ- 
ence of  the  mass  of  rock  making  up  the  plateau  is 
measureable,  because  this  mass  tugs  at  the  pendu- 
lum and  makes  it  swing  a  little  faster  than  it  theoret- 
ically should  do.  The  amount  of  variation  deter- 
mines the  relation  between  the  mass  of  the  plateau 
and  the  total  mass  of  the  earth  itself;  and  from  this 
proportion  the  total  mass  'of  the  earth  may  be  calcu- 
lated, if  the  mass  of  the  plateau  is  known. 

Another  method  of  utilizing  a  localized  mass, 
different  only  in  detail  from  that  just  outlined,  is 
to  operate  with  a  plumb  line  on  either  side  of  a  large 
hill  or  mountain  of  the  "hogback"  type,  noting  the 
extent  to  which  the  plumb  line  is  pulled  away  from 
the  vertical  by  the  attraction  of  the  mountain.  As- 
tronomical observations  determining  the  true  ver- 
tical, and  the  actual  deflection  is  matter  of  observa- 
tion, but  it  is  necessary  to  survey  the  mountain 
accurately  and  determine  as  closely  as  possible  the 
precise  character  of  the  rocks  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed. Classical  experiments  of  this  type  were  made 

62 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

by  the  British  astronomer  royal  Maskelyne  about 
the  year  1774,  and  results  were  obtained  which  gave 
at  least  a  general  notion  of  the  mass  of  the  earth. 
But,  as  has  been  said,  all  experiments  of  this  type, 
are  lacking  in  accuracy  because  it  can  never  be  pos- 
sible to  determine  with  strict  reliability  the  mass  of 
the  mountain. 

THE  CAVENDISH  TEST 

'A  test  of  a  far  more  accurate  type  was  contem- 
plated more  than  a  century  ago  by  the  Rev.  John 
Michell,  an  Englishman,  who  constructed  an  appara- 
tus which  he  did  not  live  to  operate  but  which  after- 
ward came  into  the  hands  of  the  famous  Cavendish 
and  by  him  was  used  to  effect  what  may  be  consid- 
ered the  first  fairly  accurate  weighing  of  the  earth 
in  the  years  1797-98.  The  apparatus  consisted  essen- 
tially of  two  lead  balls  each  two  inches  in  diameter 
placed  at  the  ends  of  a  rod  suspended  at  its  center  by 
a  long  wire.  Proper  caution  being  taken  to  shield 
the  apparatus  from  draughts  of  air,  it  was  provided 
that  two  other  leaden  balls,  each  twelve  inches  in 
diameter,  might  be  brought  near  the  small  suspended 
balls,  on  opposite  sides.  If,  then,  the  attraction  suf- 
ficed, the  small  balls  would  be  drawn  toward  the 
larger  ones  by  a  movement  which  could  be  measured 
by  the  swing  of  the  connecting  rod.  The  exact  dis- 
tance between  the  centers  of  the  large  and  small 
balls  being  measured,  and  the  mass  of  the  balls  be- 
ing accurately  determined,  the  observed  deflection, 
measurable  in  terms  of  the  torsional  stress  of  the 
suspending  wire,  gave  the  third  term  of  a  proportion, 

63 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

the  remaining  term  of  which,  according  to  a  well- 
known  formula  of  the  mathematician,  would  be  the 
mass  of  the  earth. 

As  the  result  of  a  long  series  of  tests  made  with 
this  apparatus,  Cavendish  calculated  that  the  aver- 
age density  of  our  globe  is  5.45,  the  density  of  water. 

Cavendish's  experiment  was  scarcely  improved 
upon  for  almost  one  hundred  years  though  many 
times'  repeated.  Then  in  1893  Professor  Boys  of 
Oxford  repeated  his  tests,  with  an  apparatus  of  far 
greater  delicacy  than  any  that  had  been  available. 
The  essential  improvement  introduced  by  Professor 
Boys  consisted  of  using  a  thread  of  quartz  instead 
of  a  wire  to  suspend  the  balanced  balls.  The  quartz 
thread  is  made  by  shooting  an  arrow  dipped  in 
molten  glass,  and  it  constitutes  a  gossamer  filament 
of  almost  unbelievable  tenuity  far  stronger  than  steel 
and  of  marvelous  elasticity.  It  has  been  alleged  that 
a  single  gram  of  sand  would  furnish  material  for  a 
thousand  miles  of  this  quartz  filament.  Whatever 
the  truth  of  this  estimate,  the  quartz  thread  has 
unique  qualities,  and  the  earth-weighing  apparatus 
which  Professor  Boys  constructed  with  its  aid  sub- 
stituted balls  one-quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter  for 
the  two-inch  balls  of  the  original  Cavendish  instru- 
ment; these  tiny  balls  being  suspended  on  a  rod  only 
half  an  inch  in  length  and  deflected  in  the  various 
experiments  by  sets  of  balls  4%  and  2%  inches  in 
diameter  respectively.  The  apparatus  was  operated 
in  a  partial  vacuum,  the  deflection  being  noted  with 
a  telescope.  The  adjustment  was  so  delicate  that 
even  the  tremor  caused  by  distant  earthquake  was 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

detected,  and  the  slightest  tremor,  as  from  some  one 
walking  in  the  house,  put  the  apparatus  quite  out  of 
commission. 

The  final  result  of  Professor  Boys'  test  was  to 
give  the  figures  5.527  as  the  average  density  of  the 
earth  in  the  comparison  with  water.  Still  more  re- 
cently Mariaschein  of  Bohemia  has  repeated  Profes- 
sor B'oys'  experiments  and  fully  confirmed  his  results, 
so  it  seems  fairly  established  that  the  density  of  the 
earth  does  not  differ  greatly  from  the  figure  given. 
The  weight  of  our  globe,  then,  is  a  trifle  more  than 
five  and  one-half  times  what  it  would  be  if  it  were 
composed  entirely  of  water.  Stated  in  tons,  the 
weight  runs  into  unmeaning  figures;  but  the  aggre- 
gate furnishes  a  useful  unit  in  computing  the  bulk  of 
the  other  planetary  bodies.  When  stars  are  in  ques- 
tion, the  bulk  of  the  sun  furnishes  a  more  convenient 
unit  as  we  shall  see.  To  estimate  the  bulk  of  a  star 
in  terms  of  the  earth's  mass  would  be  like  measuring 
the  weight  of  an  elephant  in  grams,  or  computing 
the  life-time  of  a  man  in  hours. 

Reference  should  be  made  to  earth-weighing  tests 
of  another  kind  made  by  Airy  and  others  by  compar- 
ing the  pendulum  swing  at  the  earth's  surface  and  in 
the  depths  of  mines;  and  to  Professor  Poynting's 
wonderfully  delicate  tests  with  the  balance,  in  which 
a  fifty-pound  weight  was  seemingly  given  increased 
weight  by  bringing  a  350-pound  mass  directly  be- 
neath the  scale.  Professor  Poynting's  experiments 
were  of  such  delicacy  as  to  be  equivalent,  he  tells  us, 
to  balancing  the  entire  British  population  of  40,000,- 
000  individuals  against  an  equivalent  weight,  and 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

then  noting  the  difference  of  weight  due  to  the  inclu- 
sion or  exclusion  of  one  small  boy.  Indeed,  it  is 
further  stated  that  the  test  would  determine  whether 
or  not  the  boy  wore  boots!  It  is  interesting  to  ob- 
serve that  the  results  obtained  by  Professor  Poynt- 
ing  are  in  close  agreement  with  those  secured  by  the 
Cavendish  method.  He  makes  the  average  mass  of 
the  earth  5.493;  as  against  the  5.527  of  Professor 
Boys.  The  most  recent  investigations,  then,  show 
the  sagacity  of  Newton's  original  guess,  that  the 
mass  of  the  earth  would  be  found  to  be  between  five 
and  six  times  that  of  a  similar  globe  of  water. 

WEIGHING  THE  MOON 

In  finding  the  mass  of  the  moon  or  of  any  other 
sidereal  body,  the  great  law  of  universal  gravitation 
is  invoked  as  in  weighing  the  earth.  We  have,  in- 
deed, no  other  means  of  making  such  a  test,  and 
before  Newton's  exposition  of  the  law  of  gravitation 
no  one  could  have  had  more  than  the  vaguest  notion 
of  the  mass  of  any  planetary  or  stellar  body.  Granted 
a  knowledge  of  the  law  of  gravitation,  together  with 
a  recognition  of  the  principle  of  inertia,  it  becomes 
possible  to  calculate  the  mass  of  many  of  the  astro- 
nomical bodies  with  comparative  ease;  provided  the 
size  of  the  orbit  in  which  the  bodies  move  can  be 
determined. 

The  law  of  gravitation  expresses  the  fact  that  the 
attraction  between  any  two  masses  of  matter  varies 
inversely  as  the  square  of  their  mutual  distance  and 
directly  as  the  product  of  their  masses.  The  law  of 
inertia  states  the  fundamental  principle  that  any 

66 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

mass  of  matter  if  at  rest  will  remain  forever  at  rest 
unless  operated  upon  by  some  disturbing  force,  and 
that  a  mass  in  motion  tends  if  undisturbed  to  move  on 
in  a  straight  line  at  an  unvarying  rate  of  speed  for- 
ever. Applied  to  any  body  that  is  revolving  in  an 
orbit,  the  result  is  this:  at  any  given  moment  the 
body  tends  to  take  a  tangential  course  which  would 
carry  it  off  in  a  right  line  farther  and  farther  from 
its  primary;  but  the  attraction  of  gravitation  pulls 
it  away  from  the  tangential  course,  so  that  in  effect 
it  falls  toward  the  primary.  If  the  two  tendencies 
just  balance,  the  body  neither  flies  off  into  space  nor 
falls  actually  nearer  its  primary,  but  maintains  an 
orbital  course  at  a  uniform  distance.  Such  is,  in 
point  of  fact,  the  condition  of  the  earth  itself  in  re- 
volving about  the  sun,  and  of  the  moon  in  its  course 
about  the  earth. 

It  is  clear  that  the  rate  of  revolution  of  a  small 
body  at  a  given  distance  from  its  primary  is  largely 
dependent  upon  the  mass  of  the  primary  itself.  If, 
for  example,  the  mass  of  the  sun  were  to  be  mate- 
rially changed,  the  entire  solar  system  would  at  once 
be  thrown  out  of  equilibrium,  and  all  the  planets 
would  of  necessity  seek  new  orbits  before  that  equi- 
librium could  be  restored. 

But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  planetary 
body  does  not  in  a  strict  interpretation  revolve  about 
its  primary;  the  fact  being  that  primary  and  satellite 
revolve  about  a  common  center.  Where  the  primary 
is  enormously  larger  than  the  satellite,  however,  as 
in  the  case  of  our  sun  and  his  planetary  family,  the 
motion  of  the  larger  body  may  practically  be  ignored 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

in  all  but  the  most  delicate  calculations.  The  centre 
of  revolution  connecting  the  sun  and  the  earth,  for 
example,  lies  almost  immeasurably  near  the  centre 
of  the  sun.  The  balance  is  like  that  of  a  large  man 
swinging  a  tiny  marble  round  and  round  at  the  end 
of  a  string.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  relations 
between  most  of  the  planets  and  their  satellites.  As 
a  rule  the  largest  satellites  have  less  than  one-thou- 
sandth the  mass  of  their  primaries.  The  only  ex- 
ception in  the  solar  system,  is  found  in  the  case  of 
the  earth  itself,  our  moon  being  vastly  larger,  pro- 
portionately, than  the  satellite  of  any  other  planet. 

As  it  happens,  the  relatively  large  size  of  our 
moon  greatly  facilitates  the  task  of  the  astronomer 
in  weighing  that  body.  The  moon  is,  in  point  of 
fact,  of  so  significant  a  size  that  the  centre  of  its 
orbit  of  revolution  is  considerably  removed  from  the 
centre  of  the  earth,  although  still  within  the  circum- 
ference of  the  earth  itself.  This  centre  of  mutual 
revolution  lies,  in  point  of  fact,  about  2880  miles  from 
the  centre  of  the  earth,  or,  stated  otherwise,  not 
much  over  1100  miles  beneath  the  earth's  surface. 
About  this  centre  the  earth  revolves  in  a  monthly 
orbit  just  as  does  the  moon,  and  it  is  this  fact  that 
supplies  the  astronomer  with  the  easiest  method  of 
computing  the  weight  of  our  satellite. 

If  we  consider  for  a  moment  the  mutual  relations 
of  the  earth  and  the  moon,  it  will  be  obvious  that  the 
earth,  in  describing  its  monthly  revolution,  in  effect 
wabbles  back  and  forth,  like  a  wheel  rotating  about 
a  point  intermediate  between  its  hub  and  its  periph- 
ery. If  it  could  be  viewed  from  a  stationary  point 

68 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

out  in  space,  it  would  seem  to  shift  its  position  back 
and  forth,  always  however  maintaining  the  same  re- 
lation to  the  moon.  And,  contrawise,  a  stationary 
object  in  space  as  viewed  from  the  earth  would  seem 
to  shift  its  position  back  and  forth  in  half-monthly 
periods.  The  amount  of  this  shift  would  be  so  small 
in  the  case  of  bodies  at  stellar  distances  as  to  be  quite 
inappreciable;  but  on  the  other  hand  it  would  affect 
the  seeming  position  of  a  body  as  near  as  the  sun 
quite  materially. 

In  point  of  fact,  such  an  oscillation  in  the  seem- 
ing position  of  the  sun  is  observed  actually  to  occur. 
As  the  earth  rotates  twenty-eight  times  on  its  axis 
during  each  monthly  period  of  revolution,  the  sun 
is  brought  as  many  times  to  the  meridian  during 
each  such  period;  and  it  is  observed  that  when  the 
moon  is  "new"  and  aga'in  when  it  is  "full" — at  which 
times,  it  will  be  obvious,  the  orbital  centre  of  earth 
and  moon  falls  in  direct  line  with  the  sun  and  the 
moon — the  sun  comes  to  meridian  exactly  at  the  pre- 
dicted time.  But  when  the  moon  is  in  the  first  quar- 
ter— the  line  connecting  the  earth  and  moon  being 
at  right  angles  to  the  earth  and  the  sun — the  sun's 
seeming  position  will  be  shifted  in  such  wise  that  it 
comes  to  the  meridian  a  little  later  than  the  predicted 
time ;  and  again  when  the  moon  is  in  the  last  quarter 
a  seeming  shift  in  the  opposite  direction  brings  the 
sun  to  the  meridian  a  little  before  the  predicted  time. 
Of  course  at  intermediate  periods  there  is  a  transi- 
tional shift  in  one  direction  or  the  other  day  by  day. 

The  measurement  of  the  maximum  shift  in  the 
sun's  seeming  position  determines  thQ  actual  shift  in 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

the  earth's  position  due  to  its  orbital  oscillation 
about  the  moon.  As  already  stated  the  amount  of 
this  shift  is  found  to  be  about  2880  miles.  This  dis- 
tance, as  computation  shows,  is  about  one-eightieth 
of  the  moon's  distance  from  the  earth.  It  follows 
that  the  mass  of  the  moon  is  one-eightieth  the  mass 
of  the  earth. 

There  are  several  other  methods  by  which  the 
mass  of  our  satellite  is  computed.  And  the  results  of 
these  other  tests  are  in  substantial  accordance  with 
this  one.  There  is  little  doubt,  then,  that  the  weight 
of  the  moon  is  thus  determined  with  a  considerable 
degree  of  accuracy.  It  is  notable,  however,  that  the 
mass  as  thus  determined  is  much  smaller  than  would 
be  expected  from  the  moon's  size.  In  point  of  fact 
the  earth's  satellite  seems  to  be  composed  of  a  much 
lighter  material  than  the  substance  of  the  earth  itself. 
This  seems  rather  curious,  but  is  not  absolutely  in- 
consistent with  the  older  or  newer  theories  of  cos- 
mogony. 

WEIGHING  THE  SUN 

To  find  the  mass  of  the  sun  is  a  curiously  simple 
problem  in  arithmetic,  provided  we  take  for  granted 
a  knowledge  of  the  diameter  of  the  earth's  orbit  and 
at  the  same  time  disregard  the  ellipticity  of  the  orbit. 
Assuming,  then,  that  the  earth's  distance  from  the 
sun  is  92,900,000  miles,  and  that  the  orbit  is  approxi- 
mately circular,  a  simple  computation  will  show  that 
the  earth  must  traverse  the  distance  of  about 
eighteen  and  a  half  miles  per  second  in  order  to  com- 
plete its  journey  about  the  sun  in  its  observed  natural 

70 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

period.  Another  computation  will  show  that  in  the 
circle  thus  constituting  the  earth's  path,  an  arc 
eighteen  and  a  half  miles  in  length  departs  from  a 
straight  line  only  an  infinitesimal  amount;  in  short, 
by  just  about  one-ninth  of  an  inch.  In  other  words, 
the  earth  in  compassing  a  distance  of  eighteen  and 
a  half  miles  falls  toward  the  sun,  under  the  influence 
of  gravitation,  by  one-ninth  of  an  inch. 

Now  it  is  familiar  knowledge  that  an  object  near 
the  earth's  surface  falls  toward  the  earth's  centre  six- 
teen feet  in  the  first  second.  It  follows  that  the  force 
of  gravitation  as  exerted  by  the  earth  on  objects  at 
its  circumference  is  greater  than  the  force  of  gravi- 
tation exerted  by  the  sun  on  matter  at  the  earth's  dis- 
tance in  the  ratio  of  sixteen  feet  to  one-ninth  of  an 
inch.  But  objects  at  the  earth's  centre  are  only  3964 
miles  from  the  earth's  centre  of  gravity,  whereas  the 
earth  is  92,900,000  miles  from  the  sun's  centre  of 
gravity;  and  as  the  force  of  gravitation  decreases  with 
the  square  of  the  distance,  the  ratio  that  expresses 
the  relation  between  the  actual  gravitation  of  the 
earth  and  that  of  the  sun  is  the  ratio  between  the 
square  of  3964  miles  and  the  square  of  92,900,000 
miles. 

The  arithmetical  computation  being  made  it  ap- 
pears that  the  actual  mass  of  the  sun  is  332,000  times 
that  of  the  earth.  In  other  words,  could  the  sun  be 
placed  on  one  scale  of  a  gigantic  balance,  332,000 
globes  such  as  ours  must  be  placed  in  the  other  scale 
to  offset  his  weight.  Even  as  colossal  a  weight  as 
this,  however,  does  not  come  up  to  the  expectations 
based  simply  on  the  sun's  bulk;  for  it  appears  that 

7.1 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

the  structure  of  the  sun  is  far  less  dense  than  that 
of  the  earth,  his  substance  having  indeed  only  about 
one  and  one-half  times  the  density  of  water.  This, 
however,  is  quite  what  might  be  expected  consider- 
ing the  revelations  of  the  spectroscope  as  to  the  gas- 
eous nature  of  such  portions  of  the  sun's  surface  as 
can  be  explored.  It  is  held,  indeed,  that  the  entire 
substance  of  the  sun  may  be  regarded  as  gaseous,  al- 
though, owing  to  enormous  gravitational  compres- 
sion, the  main  bulk  of  the  sun's  interior  structure 
doubtless  has  a  consistency  comparable  rather  to  that 
of  a  very  dense  liquid  than  to  what  we  ordinarily 
term  a  gas. 

But  while  the  weighing  of  the  sun  seems  thus 
to  be  a  very  simple  matter,  it  will  be  recalled  that 
we  assumed  at  the  outset  a  knowledge  of  the  actual 
distance  that  separates  the  earth  from  its  primary, 
and  that  this  distance  has  an  altogether  vital  share 
in  the  calculation.  But  how  is  the  sun's  distance 
itself  to  be  determined? 

The  question  is  a  very  vital  one,  not  only  in  the 
matter  of  estimating  the  sun's  mass  but  in  an  endless 
number  of  computations  with  reference  to  the  dis- 
tance and  the  bulk  of  the  various  members  of  the 
solar  system.  The  distance  of  the  earth  from  the 
sun  is,  indeed,  a  convenient  yard-stick  with  which  to 
measure  planetary  distances.  It  is  quite  possible  to 
construct  a  plan  showing  the  relative  distances  of 
all  the  different  planets  from  the  sun,  and  to  chart 
with  accuracy  their  orbits,  without  having  any  defi- 
nite knowledge  as  to  the  actual  distances  involved  in 
any  part  of  the  chart.  We  could  state  with  entire 

72 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

precision  that  the  diameter  of  the  orbit  of  Jupiter  is 
so  many  times  the  radius  of  the  earth's  orbit  even 
though  we  were  quite  unable  to  translate  either  fig- 
ure into  terms  of  precise  miles. 

Similarly  we  could  estimate  the  relative  bulk  of 
the  various  planets  and  the  relative  sizes  of  the 
orbits  of  their  various  satellites,  even  though  nothing 
were  known  as  to  the  exact  distances  in  question. 
But  in  order  that  our  chart  of  the  solar  system  should 
take  on  the  satisfying  quality  of  a  map  drawn  to  a 
known  scale,  and  in  order  that  we  should  translate 
terms  of  relative  bulk  into  terms  of  actual  bulk,  it 
is  essential  to  know  the  actual  distance  between  one 
pair  or  another  of  our  charted  bodies.  One  such 
distance  known,  other  distances  may  be  computed. 
But  how  are  we  to  measure,  in  terms  of  miles  or  any 
other  precise  unit,  any  one  of  the  planetary  distances? 

The  most  natural  method  that  suggests  itself 
would  be  to  take  the  "parallax"  of  the  sun  by  apply- 
ing the  old  familiar  principle  of  triangulation — the 
same  principle  by  which  the  seaman  determines  the 
distance  of  a  ship  and  the  surveyor  charts  the  topog- 
raphy of  a  region — to  the  measurement  of  the  sun's 
distance.  Theoretically  nothing  more  would  be  neces- 
sary than  to  take  the  direction  of  the  sun  from  two 
stations  at  opposite  points  of  the  earth's  surface,  using 
the  earth's  diameter  therefore  as  a  base  line,  and 
noting  the  angular  distance  between  the  two  lines  of 
observation.  In  default  of  stations  precisely  as  locat- 
ed, any  two  points  fairly  distant  would  seemingly 
answer,  just  as  the  surveyor  may  use  a  variable  base 
line,  a  computation  sufficing  to  make  the  necessary 

6  73 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

corrections  that  will  give  the  size  of  the  angle  sub- 
tended by  the  earth's  radius  as  viewed  from  the  sun, 
which  is  the  parallax  desired.  Such  is,  in  point  of  fact, 
the  method  by  which  the  distance  of  the  moon  is  de- 
termined. But  in  attempting  to  apply  the  method  to 
measurement  of  the  parallax  of  the  sun,  complications 
arise  that  have  proved  quite  insuperable.  The  direct 
observation  of  the  sun  presents  obvious  difficulties 
because  of  the  intense  brilliancy  and  heat  of  its  sur- 
face, and  it  is  found  almost  impossible  to  focus  on  its 
precise  centre  with  needful  accuracy.  The  actual 
angle  to  be  measured  is  now  known  (thanks  to 
other  methods)  to  be  not  far  from  8.8  seconds  of  arc; 
and  this,  as  Professor  F.  R.  Moulton  points  out, 
makes  the  apparent  shift  in  the  sun's  position  as 
viewed  from  opposite  sides  of  the  earth  closely 
equivalent  to  the  shift  of  an  object  a  mile  distant  as 
viewed  first  with  one  eye  and  then  with  the  other. 
The  angle  is  too  small  to  be  measured  under  the 
given  conditions.  So  it  is  necessary  to  find  another 
way  of  estimating  the  sun's  parallax. 

It  was  suggested  by  the  celebrated  Halley,  dis- 
coverer of  the  comet  that  bears  his  name,  that  a 
means  of  measuring  the  sun's  parallax  might  be 
afforded  by  observation  of  a  transit  of  Venus;  that 
is  to  say  of  the  passage  of  Venus  across  the  sun's 
face  on  one  of  those  rare  occasions  when  the  course 
of  our  sister  planet  carries  her  directly  between  the 
earth  and  the  sun.  Owing  to  the  slightly  varying 
planes  of  the  planetary  orbits,  a  transit  of  Venus  is 
a  relatively  infrequent  occurrence.  When  a  transit 
does  occur,  however,  it  is  repeated  after  an  interval 

74 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

of  only  eight  years.  Thus  transits  occurred  in  the 
years  1761  and  1769;  but  the  next  transit  did  not 
occur  until  1874,  followed  by  the  transit  of  1882. 

It  was  thought  by  Halley,  and  following  him  by 
astronomers  in  general,  that  by  noting  the  precise 
instant  when  the  planet  touched  the  limb  of  the  sun, 
as  viewed  from  different  observation  stations,  it 
would  be  possible,  owing  to  the  difference  of  time 
at  which  this  so-called  occultation  would  occur  as 
viewed  at  different  longitudes,  to  compute  accurately 
the  distance  of  Venus  from  the  earth,  and,  secondari- 
ly, to  obtain  the  desired  parallax  of  the  sun.  But 
although  important  expeditions  were  planned,  where- 
by astronomers  took  up  their  location  with  proper 
instruments  at  various  points  of  the  earth  from  which 
the  transit  of  Venus  would  be  visible,  the  final  results 
of  all  series  of  observations  were  very  disappointing. 
To  say  nothing  of  uncertainties  of  observation  'due 
to  clouds,  which  are  likely  to  obscure  the  sun  at 
precisely  the  wrong  moment,  there  are  inherent  diffi- 
culties due  to  the  refractive  effects  of  the  atmosphere 
of  Venus ;  so  even  after  the  transit  of  1882  there  still 
remained  elements  of  doubt  as  to  the  sun's  precise 
parallax,  and  therefore,  of  course  as  to  his  exact 
distance. 

AID  FROM  MARS  AND  EROS 

Another  methoid  of  attempting  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem would  be  to  take  the  parallax  of  our  neighbor 
Mars  at  one  of  those  periods  when  he  chances  to  be 
relatively  near  us.  This  attempt  has  been  made  again 
and  again,  and  with  a  certain  measure  of  success; 

75 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

but  unfortunately  Mars,  even  at  his  nearest,  is  some- 
thing like  50,000,000  miles  distant,  and  his  relatively 
large  size  adds  to  the  difficulty  of  focusing  on  his 
centre  with  the  degree  of  accuracy  necessary  for 
this  delicate  measurement.  Nevertheless  the  esti- 
mates of  the  sun's  parallax  deduced  from  measure- 
ment of  the  parallax  of  Mars  are  closely  in  accord 
with  other  estimates  and  serve  to  confirm  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  scale  of  the  planetary  map. 

In  point  of  fact  the  various  estimates  were  so 
concordant  that  the  actual  parallax  of  the  sun  was 
known  toward  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century 
with  a  degree  of  accuracy  that  would  fairly  satisfy 
any  one  but  an  astronomer.  Professor  Moulton  tells 
us  that  in  1891  Harkness  made  a  discussion  of  all 
the  material  bearing  on  the  subject  and  obtained  as 
a  final  value  of  the  solar  parallax  8.809  seconds  with 
a  possible  variation  of  .006  of  a  second;  and  that  in 
1896  Newton  obtained  from  all  available  material 
the  number  8.797  seconds,  with  a  possible  plus  or 
minus  variation  of  .007  of  a  second.  To  the  layman 
this  may  seem  accurate  enough;  but  the  astronomer 
is  always  eager  to  grasp  new  means  of  verifying 
his  measurements  and  calculations,  and  so  there  was 
intense  interest  manifested  in  the  (discovery,  made 
in  1898,  of  the  little  planetoid  called  Eros.  [ 

The  reason  was  this :  Planetoids  in  general,  it  I 
will  be  recalled,  having  orbits  lying  between  Mars 
and  Jupiter.  But  it  was  soon  noted  that  the  orbit  of 
Eros  is  extremely  eccentric,  and  the  computation 
showed  that  one  part  of  its  journey  would  bring  it 
within  the  orbit  of  Mars,  and  hence  nearer  to  us  than 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

any  other  known  member  of  the  sun's  planetary 
family.  Moreover  it  fortunately  chanced  that  Eros 
was  at  the  time  of  its  discovery  approaching  the 
portion  of  its  orbit  which  would  bring  it  nearer  the 
earth.  Sir  David  Gill,  at  the  Cape  Town  Observa- 
tory, had  made  very  accurate  determinations  of  the 
sun's  distance  by  testing  the  planetoids  Victoria, 
Isis,  and  Sappho,  notwithstanding  their  distance.  It 
seemed  obvious  that  Eros  would  afford  still  better 
opportunity  for  making  the  all-important  measure- 
ment. "  i< 

The  expectations  were  fully  realized.  In  the 
winter  of  1900-1901,  Eros  was  at  the  nearest  point, 
and  elaborate  series  of  observations  were  made, 
chiefly  by  the  photographic  method,  at  many 
different  observatories,  with  an  eye  to  the  detection 
of  the  solar  parallax.  The  computations  from  these 
observations  are  matters  of  complex  mathematics, 
but  the  preliminary  discussions  gave  results  closely 
in  accord  with  the  previous  estimates  of  the  sun's 
parallax. 

THE  SPECTROSCOPIC  METHOD 

The  newest  method  of  measuring  the  sun's  dis- 
tance is  what  seems  to  the  layman  the  rather  curious 
one  of  aiming  a  telescope  at  a  distant  star  and  record- 
ing the  positions  of  the  spectroscopic  lines  by  pho- 
tography, and  then  aiming  again  at  the  same  star  six 
months  later  and  again  recording  the  positions  of 
the  lines. 

The  explanation  of  this  seeming  puzzle  is  that  the 
lines  in  the  spectrum  (as  we  have  elsewhere  noted) 

77 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

are  shifted  in  one  direction  if  you  are  approaching 
the  light-giving  object,  and  in  the  other  direction  if 
you  are  receding  from  it.  With  the  great  resolving 
power  of  the  modern  spectrograph  used  in  connection 
with  a  big  telescope,  it  is  possible  thus  to  measure 
accurately  the  shift  of  lines  and  deduce  the  speed  of 
the  moving  body.  For  the  purposes  of  this  measure- 
ment it  does  not  matter  whether  the  light-producing 
object  is  moving  toward  you,  or  whether  you  are 
moving  toward  the  light-producing  body. 

In  the  case  under  consideration,  the  astronomer 
measures  the  motion  of  the  earth  plus  the  motion  of 
the  star.  But  the  earth  is  traveling  in  opposite  direc- 
tions at  the  two  periods  when  the  photographs  are 
taken,  whereas  presumably  the  flight  of  the  star  is  un- 
varying. So  the  difference  between  the  velocities 
recorded  in  the  two  measurements  will  represent 
twice  the  actual  speed  of  the  earth  in  its  flight  about 
the  sun.  This  speed  being  thus  accurately  measured, 
it  is  a  very  simple  problem  in  arithmetic  to  determine 
the  distance  which  the  earth  traverses  in  a  year; 
which  is  obviously  equivalent  to  'determining  the  size 
of  the  earth's  orbit  and  hence  the  average  distance 
of  the  sun. 

In  the  number  of  the  Publications  of  the  Astro- 
nomical Society  of  the  Pacific  for  October,  1912,  Pro- 
fessor Arthur  B.  Turner  of  the  College  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  tells  of  recent  estimates  of  the  sun's 
distance  made  by  this  method.  But  he  points  out 
that  the  problem  is  by  no  means  as  simple  as  it  seems 
at  first  sight,  because  of  certain  practical  complica- 
tions that  cannot  be  avoided. 

78 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

"In  the  first  place,'*  says  Professor  Turner,  "stars 
of  a  suitable  spectral  type  and  magnitude  for  velocity 
determinations  are  not  found  exactly  in  the  ecliptic; 
second,  the  Earth's  orbit  is  slightly  elliptical;  which 
makes  the  Earth's  velocity  a  variable  quantity;  third, 
it  also  rotates  on  an  axis  and  the  observer  has  a  com- 
ponent of  velocity  relative  to  the  star  depending 
upon  the  hour  angle  of  the  observation;  fourth,  the 
earth  and  moon  revolve  about  a  common  center  of 
gravity,  and  planetary  perturbations  also  change 
slightly  the  elliptic  velocity  of  the  earth;  fifth,  some 
of  the  larger  planets,  like  Jupiter  and  Saturn,  swing 
the  sun  out  of  position  sufficiently  to  affect  the  star's 
motion  with  respect  to  the  sun's  center;  sixth,  the 
star  may  be  a  spectroscopic  binary  and  have  a  vari- 
able velocity  with  respect  to  the  observer  (the  com- 
ponent of  the  sun's  motion  through  space  in  the 
direction  of  a  star  is  assumed  to  be  constant) ;  and, 
seventh,  the  observations  cannot  be  taken  exactly  at 
quadrature  with  the  sun  for  a  number  of  plates  or 
spectrograms  must  be  taken  of  each  star  at  successive 
quadratures." 

That  would  seem  to  make  the  problem  almost 
hopelessly  complex.  But  Professor  Turner  hastens 
to  assure  us  that  allowance  can  be  made  for  all  these 
departures  from  ideal  conditions,  and  that  when  such 
allowance  has  been  made,  with  the  resources  of  the 
modern  mathematician,  the  resulting  value  of  the 
sun's  distance  has  a  very  high  degree  of  accuracy. 
Reviewing  a  piece  of  work  started  by  Sir  David  Gill 
at  the  Royal  Observatory,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
completed  under  Director  S.  S.  Hough,  in  which  the 

79 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

estimates  were  based  on  302  spectrograms  made 
between  February  1906  and  May  1908,  Professor 
Turner  tells  us  that  the  final  most  probable  value  of 
the  solar  parallax  (which  is  the  astronomical  way  of 
stating  the  case)  was  8.800  seconds  of  arc,  with  a 
possible  variation  of  0.006  seconds.  This  agrees  re- 
markably well  with  the  value  of  the  reports  made  in 
February  1912,  by  Professor  A.  R.  Hinks  from  a  later 
discussion  of  some  hundreds  of  plates  of  the  planetoid 
Eros  taken  at  twelve  observatories  during  the  so-' 
called  opposition  of  that  body  in  1900-1901;  this  value 
being  8.807  seconds,  with  a  possible  variation  of 
0.0027. 

Being  interpreted  in  terms  more  comprehensible 
to  the  average  mind,  this  means  that  the  earth's  mean 
distance  from  the  sun  is  known  within  about  30,000 
miles, — a  figure  which  seems  infinitesimal  in  com- 
parison with  the  actual  distance  of  almost  ninety- 
three  million  miles;  the  variation  being  equivalent  to 
only  twenty  inches  in  a  mile.  The  best  determina- 
tions made  from  Mars  had  left  a  possible  variation 
of  a  million  miles;  and  Professor  Gill's  most  accurate 
measurement  of  the  minor  planets  available  before 
the  discovery  of  Eros  still  allowed  an  uncertainty  of 
100,000  miles. 

But  even  the  new  figure  does  not  satisfy  the 
astronomers;  and  Professor  Turner  tells  us  that  a 
programme  now  under  way  at  the  Cape  Observatory 
has  to  do  with  the  observation  of  365  stars  and  that 
when  completed  the  radial  value  of  at  least  fifty  stars, 
observed  near  quadrature  of  the  sun,  suitable  for  the 
Determination  of  the  solar  parallax,  will  give  us  "in 

So 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

a  few  more  years"  the  spectroscope  determination  of 
the  sun's  distance  with  a  degree  of  accuracy  equal 
to  that  of  any  other  method. 

Meantime  the  various  types  of  measurement  are 
so  closely  in  harmony  that  we  may  look  with  much 
confidence  on  the  figure  92,897,000  miles  as  represent- 
ing the  earth's  average  distance  from  the  sun.  This, 
then,  is  the  unit  distance  which  serves  as  a  yard  stick 
in  measuring  the  planetary  distances.  With  its  aid 
we  compute  the  mass  of  the  sun,  and  also,  as  will 
appear  in  a  moment,  the  masses  of  all  but  two  of  the 
fraternity  of  major  planets. 

WEIGHING  THE   PLANETS 

In  determining  the  mass  of  a  planet,  no  new 
principle  is  involved.  All  that  is  necessary  is  to  note 
carefully  the  distance  from  the  planet  of  one  of  its 
satellites,  and  the'precise  period  of  revolution  of  that 
satellite.  As  we  have  seen,  the  rate  of  revolution  at 
any  given  distance  is  determined  by  the  combined 
masses  of  the  planet  and  satellite.  So  what  will  really 
be  determined  when  the  other  data  are  known  is  the 
joint  mass  of  planet  and  satellite.  But  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  moon,  the  satellites  are  so  small  in 
comparison  with  the  bulk  of  their  primaries  that  their 
weight  may  virtually  be  disregarded,  and  for  the  pur- 
poses of  rough  calculation  it  may  be  assumed  that 
the  entire  mass  of  the  system  is  located  in  the  planet 
itself. 

Speaking  in  astronomical  terms,  the  planets  are 
relatively  near  the  earth,  and  it  is  possible,  with  the 
modern  instruments,  to  measure  the  orbits  of  their 

81  j 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

satellites  with  a  good  degree  of  accuracy.  Such 
measurement,  stated  in  terms  of  angular  distance, 
would  obviously  have  no  definite  meaning  unless  the 
actual  distance  of  the  planet  were  known.  But  we 
have  already  seen  that  these  distances  are  matters 
of  precise  knowledge,  so  the  observations  of  the 
atronomer  as  to  the  orbits  of  the  various  satellites  of 
the  different  planets  can  be  translated  into  terms  of 
miles  and  thus  supply  the  basis  for  simple  computa- 
tions through  which  the  masses  of  the  planets  are 
made  known;  otherwise  stated,  through  which  the 
planets  are  weighed. 

Mathematicians  have  discovered  that  the  computa- 
tion in  question  may  be  very  conveniently  performed 
if  the  problem  is  stated  in  the  form  of  a  proportion 
in  which  the  masses  and  the  orbits  of  the  satellites 
of  two  different  planetary  systems  are  utilized.  For 
this  purpose,  the  known  mass  and  the  orbital  time 
and  distance  of  the  earth  and  moon  will  naturally 
form  the  standard  of  comparison.  The  formula  im- 
plied was  stated  as  follows  by  the  late  Charles  A. 
Young,  the  famous  Princeton  astronomer:  "The 
united  mass  of  a  body  and  its  satellite  is  to  the  united 
mass  of  a  second  body  and  its  satellite,  as  the  cube 
of  the  distance  of  the  first  satellite  [from  its  pri- 
mary] divided  by  the  square  of  its  period  is  to  the 
cube  of  the  distance  of  the  second  satellite  [from  its 
primary]  divided  by  the  square  of  its  period." 

This  formula  obviously  enables  the  astronomer  to 
compare,  by  the  simplest  mathematical  computation, 
the  masses  of  any  two  bodies  which  have  attendants 
revolving  round  them.  Thus  the  mass  of  any  planet 

82 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

having  a  satellite  of  measured  distance  and  revolu- 
tion period  may  be  computed  without  difficulty.  It 
must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  it  is  an  alto- 
gether simple  matter  to  make  accurate  determina- 
tion of  the  orbital  distance  and  period  of  revolution 
of  a  satellite  in  the  case  of  the  more  distant  planets. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  both  Uranus  and  Neptune  are 
invisible  to  the  naked  eye.  The  satellite  of  Neptune 
is  barely  visible  under  the  resolving  powers  of  the 
largest  telescopes;  and  the  same  thing  is  true  of  the 
smaller  satellites  of  even  such  relatively  near  planets 
as  Jupiter  and  Saturn.  Yet  the  smallest  satellites, 
particularly  if  they  are  relatively  far  removed  from 
their  primaries,  are  precisely  the  ones  best  adapted 
for  accurate  observation  of  their  orbital  distances. 
Hence  the  accurate  weighing  of  the  planets  has  been 
greatly  facilitated  by  the  use  of  the  large  modern 
telescopes;  and,  indeed,  was  in  the  case  of  the  outer 
planets  quite  impossible  of  performance  until  the 
great  instruments  of  the  Yerkes  and  Lick  and  Mt. 
Wilson  Observatories  were  installed. 

Now,  however,  it  is  certain  that  the  masses  of 
Mars,  of  Jupiter,  of  Saturn,  of  Uranus,  and  of  Nep- 
tune have  been  determined  with  a  fair  degree  of 
accuracy.  As  the  'diameters  of  these  planets  can  of 
course  be  measured  by  direct  observation  (their  ex- 
act distance  at  the  particular  time  of  observation 
being  determined)  their  actual  size  and  hence  the 
average  density  of  their  structures  may  be  computed; 
average  density  being,  of  course,  expressed  in  the 
ratio  between  the  bulk  and  the  mass  of  any  given 
structure. 

83 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

The  results  of  these  measurements  and  computa- 
tions show  that  the  great  outlying  planets  are  of 
very  low  density,  no  one  of  them  being  as  dense  as 
the  sun.  The  density  of  water  being  taken  as  unity, 
the  density  of  Jupiter  is  found  to  be  1.33,  that  of 
Saturn  0.72,  that  of  Uranus  1.22,  and  that  of  Neptune 
1.11.  When  it  is  recalled  that  the  density  of  the 
earth  is  about  5.50,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  outlying 
planets  are  very  tenuous  structures.  Like  the  sun, 
they  are  doubtless  gaseous  in  constitution,  although 
their  great  bulk  gives  them  a  gravitational  power 
that  condenses  their  average  substance  to  a  fluid 
consistency,  Jupiter,  as  the  figures  just  cited  show, 
being  about  one-third  denser  than  water,  and  Saturn, 
the  most  tenuous  of  all,  less  than  three-quarters  as 
dense. 

Notwithstanding  their  tenuous  structure,  how- 
ever, the  outlying  planets  are  of  such  enormous  bulk 
that  their  total  mass  quite  dwarfs  that  of  the  earth. 
Jupiter  would  require  more  than  317  globes  like  ours 
to  balance  its  weight,  and  Saturn  would  more  than 
tip  the  beam  against  94  earths.  Uranus  and  Nep- 
tune, however,  are  less  colossal,  the  weight  of  the 
former  being  only  14.6,  and  that  of  the  latter  only 
17  times  that  of  our  globe. 

Our  nearer  neighbor  Mars,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
a  structure  more  like  that  of  our  own  planet,  its 
average  density  being  3.95,  or  about  seven-tenths 
that  of  the  earth.  Its  total  mass  is  a  little  less  than 
one-ninth  (0.11)  that  of  the  earth. 

The  two  remaining  major  planets,  Mercury  and 
Venus,  are  without  satellites,  and  hence  can  not  be 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

weighed  in  the  facile  manner  just  indicated.  In  at- 
tempting to  compute  their  mass,  it  is  necessary  to 
take  into  account  their  observed  perturbing  effects 
on  the  orbits  of  comets  that  chance  to  pass  near 
them  from  time  to  time,  and  at  best  the  results  ob- 
tained are  somewhat  less  trustworthy  than  those 
secured  in  the  case  of  the  other  planets.  Large 
numbers  of  observations,  however,  have  given  fairly 
concurrent  results,  and  it  is  computed  that  Venus 
weighs  about  %o  and  little  Mercury  about  %s  as 
much  as  the  earth.  The  density  of  Venus  is  4.89  and 
that  of  Mercury  3.70.  These  inferior  planets  are, 
therefore,  not  very  dissimilar  to  the  earth  in  point 
of  solidarity. 

ARE    THE    PLANETS    INHABITED? 

Time  out  of  mind  the  question  whether  there  are 
human  inhabitants  on  the  planets  has  been  matter 
of  interest  and  controversy.  The  question  has  been 
argued  pro  and  con  from  many  standpoints,  includ- 
ing the  theological,  but  it  can  not  fairly  be  said  to 
be  settled  even  in  our  own  day.  In  a  recent  book 
Professor  E.  Walter  Maunder,  Superintendent  of  the 
Solar  Department  of  the  Royal  Observatory  at 
Greenwich,  England,  discussed  the  question  of  the 
habitability  of  the  various  planets,  and  gave  what 
may  be  considered  a  fair  presentation  of  the  attitude 
of  the  generality  of  astronomers  toward  this  inter- 
esting subject. 

As  to  all  but  two  of  the  planets,  the  question  may 
be  answered  negatively  with  entire  assurance.  The 
great  gutlying  planets  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Uranus,  and 

85 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

Neptune,  were  pretty  generally  supposed  to  be  not 
unlikely  abodes  for  human  beings  by  astronomers 
even  of  half  a  century  ago.  But  we  have  just  seen 
that  the  recent  tests  prove  that  those  great  bodies 
have  far  too  tenuous  a  structure  to  be  other  than 
gaseous  in  constitution;  at  the  very  most  their  cen- 
tral portions  may  have  the  structure  of  molten 
liquids.  Jupiter's  equatorial  portions  are  observed 
to  rotate  more  rapidly  than  parts  nearer  the  poles, 
thus  proving  by  direct  observation  the  condition  of 
fluidity  argued  by  the  mathematicians.  In  a  word, 
then,  these  gigantic  planets  are  worlds  in  the  making. 
By  no  possibility  can  they  at  present  give  habitation 
to  living  creatures  in  any  wise  comparable  to  those 
that  inhabit  the  earth. 

For  a  quite  different  reason  the  tiny  interior  planet 
Mercury  is  uninhabitable.  It  is  all  but  certain  that 
this  planet  has  been  brought  by  tidal  strain  to  a  con- 
dition comparable  to  that  of  our  moon  in  which  its 
period  of  rotation  corresponds  exactly  to  its  period 
of  revolution,  so  that  it  turns  one  face  always  to  the 
sun  just  as  the  moon  always  turns  one  face  to  the 
earth.  The  result  must  be  that  one  half  the  surface 
of  Mercury  is  intolerably  hot  and  the  other  half  in- 
tolerably cold  as  well  as  perpetually  dark. 

Overlooking  the  company  of  tiny  asteroids,  there 
remain  two  planets,  Mars  and  Venus.  These  'are 
nearest  neighbors,  and  they  rather  closely  resemble 
the  earth  in  size  and  density  of  structure.  They  are 
both  of  such  constitution  as  to  give  the  idea  of  their 
habitability  greater  or  less  plausibility;  and  that 
Mars  is  in  reality  inhabited  has  become  almost  a 

86 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

matter  of  tacit  belief.  It  has  become  customary  to 
speak  of  our  neighbors  the  Martians  quite  as  if  they; 
had  assured  existence.  Every  one  has  heard,  too, 
of  the  canals  of  Mars,  and  most  readers  are  prob- 
ably familiar  with  the  claim  made  by  Professor  Per- 
cival  Lowell  that  these  canals  can  not  possibly  be 
of  natural  origin  but  must  represent  the  work  of  in- 
telligent beings.  Professor  Lowell  cites  in  proof  of 
the  artificiality  of  these  canals,  their,  straightness, 
their  uniform  size,  and  their  extreme  tenuity;  also  the 
dual  character  of  some  of  them,  and  their  relation  to 
certain  spots  which  he  interprets  as  oases;  and  in 
general  a  systematic  net-working  by  both  canals  and 
spots  of  the  whole  surface  of  the  planet.  He  believes 
that  these  markings  represent  the  vegetation  about 
actual  canals  that  convey  water  (supplied  by  a  melt- 
ing ice-cap)  from  the  polar  regions  and  irrigate  the 
arid  surface  of  the  planet. 

Not  merely  the  interpretation  of  these  lines  but 
their  existence  has  been  challenged  by  various  ob- 
servers. The  fine  drawings  of  Mars  made  by  Keeler 
and  Barnard  with  the  36-inch  Lick  telescope  show 
certain  curious  shadings  and  lines,  but  nothing 
closely  corresponding  to  Professor  Lowell's  pictures. 
Nor  does  the  photographic  plate  reveal  anything 
more  than  vaguely  suggesting  an  intricate  system 
of  canals.  But  it  is  conceded  that  these  canals,  if 
they  exist,  lie  almost  at  the  limits  of  vision,  and  it 
is  probable  that  the  question  of  their  existence  will 
long  remain  a  matter  of  controversy.  Professor 
Maunder,  however,  believes  that  he  has  settled  the 
question  definitely,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  he 

8? 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

presents  very  striking  evidence  against  Professor 
Lowell's  theory. 

Professor  Maunder's  experiments  were  made, 
curiously  enough,  not  with  the  aid  of  telescopes,  but 
in  an  ordinary  school-room,  the  observers  being  a 
company  of  schoolboys.  He  placed  on  the  wall  a 
diagram  on  which  he  had  made  a  few  spots  or  irreg- 
ular markings.  Boys  at  different  points  in  the 
schoolroom  were  asked  to  look  carefully  at  this  dia- 
gram and  to  draw  what  they  saw.  The  results  were 
striking.  The  boys  nearest  the  diagram  detected  the 
little  irregular  markings  and  represented  them  under 
their  true  forms.  Those  at  the  back  of  the  room  saw 
only  the  broadest  features  of  the  diagram,  and  made 
vague  drawings  that  might  represent  continents  and 
seas.  But  the  boys  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  unable 
to  recognize  the  markings  as  they  really  existed, 
gained  an  illusive  impression  of  a  network  of  straight 
lines,  sometimes  with  dots  at  the  points  of  meeting. 

"Advancing  from  a  distance  toward  the  diagram, " 
says  Professor  Maunder,  "the  process  of  develop- 
ment became  quite  clear.  At  the  back  of  the  room 
no  straight  lines  were  seen;  as  the  observer  came 
slowly  forward,  first  one  straight  line  would  appear 
completely,  then  another,  and  so  on  till  all  the  chief 
canals  drawn  by  Schiaparelli  and  Lowell  in  the  re- 
gion represented  had  come  into  evidence  in  their 
proper  places.  Advancing  still  farther,  the  canals 
disappeared,  and  the  little  irregular  markings  which 
had  given  rise  to  them  were  perceived  in  their  true 
forms." 

This  experiment  suggests,  then,  that  the  discovery 

88 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

of  "canals"  net-wofking  the  surface  of  Mars  depends 
upon  the  acuteness  of  vision  of  the  observer,  or  upon 
the  size  of  the  telescope  that  aids  his  vision.  The 
Italian  astronomer  Schiaparelli,  who  first  observed 
the  canals,  was  gifted  with  peculiarly  acute  vision; 
and  Profesor  Lowell's  observations  are  made  in  an 
atmosphere  of  great  clearness.  These  observers,  and 
a  few  others  who  have  thought  they  saw  the  mark- 
ings, would  be  likened  by  Professor  Maunder  to  the 
children  in  the  middle  of  his  schoolroom.  The  other 
observers,  who  failed  to  see  the  markings,  are  like 
the  children  at  the  back  of  the  room  or  at  the  front, 
according  to  the  more  or  less  favorable  conditions 
under  which  their  observations  are  made. 

It  seems  more  than  probable,  then,  that  the  canals 
of  Mars  are  an  optical  illusion,  and  that  their  pres- 
ence can  not  be  legitimately  invoked  as  proving  the 
habitation  of  our  neighbor  planet  by  intelligent  be- 
ings. Meantime  students  of  solar  physics  calculate 
rather  conclusively  that  unless  Mars  is  blanketed 
with  a  rather  dense  atmosphere — and  the  reverse  of 
this  is  believed  to  be  the  case — its  surface  condition 
must  be  one  of  very  low  temperature,  making  it  alto- 
gether unlikely  that  any  animal  life  comparable  to 
that  of  the  earth  can  exist  on  the  planet. 

As  to  Venus,  the  conditions  are  very  different,  and 
in  Professor  Maunder's  view  the  probability  that 
this  planet  may  be  the  abode  of  life  is  considerably 
greater.  Venus  has  a  dense  atmosphere  and  it  is 
near  enough  to  the  sun  to  receive  nearly  double  the 
heat  and  light  received  by  the  earth.  So  there  is 
no  obvious  intrinsic  reason  why  life  may  not  exist 

7  89 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

on  Venus,  provided  that  planet  rotates  in  a  manner 
to  expose  first  one  side  and  then  another  to  the  sun's 
influence.  But  it  chances  that  this  is  a  matter  of 
doubt.  It  was  formerly  supposed  that  the  period  of 
rotation  of  Venus  had  been  accurately  determined, 
particularly  by  the  Italian  astronomer  De  Vico,  who 
made  the  period  23  hours  and  21  minutes.  But  more 
recently  another  Italian  astronomer,  Schiaparelli, 
whose  observations  of  Mars  have  just  been  cited, 
fixed  attention  on  certain  bright  spots  near  the 
southern  horn  of  Venus  (this  planet  showing  phases 
like  those  of  the  moon),  and  watched  them  for  many 
consecutive  hours.  He  claimed  that  the  line  sepa- 
rating day  and  night  on  Venus  does  not  shift  to  any 
appreciable  extent,  hence  that  Venus  really  rotates, 
after  the  manner  of  Mercury  and  the  moon,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  present  the  same  face  always  to  its  pri- 
mary. 

Other  astronomers  have  confirmed  this  observa- 
tion. If  it  represents  the  facts,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion of  the  uninhabitability  of  Venus;  to  quote  Pro- 
fessor Maunder,  "the  side  exposed  to  the  sun  will 
wither  in  a  temperature  of  about  227  degrees  Centi- 
grade, in  which  all  moisture  will  be  evaporated;  the 
side  remote  from  it  will  be  bound  in  eternal  ice.  In 
neither  hemisphere  will  water  exist  in  the  liquid 
state;  in  neither  hemisphere  will  life  be  possible." 

It  must  be  added,  however,  that  recent  studies 
made  with  the  spectroscope  have  tended  to  confirm 
the  earlier  belief  that  Venus  rotates  much  as  the  earth 
does  in  a  period  of  approximately  twenty-four  hours. 
But  the  cloudy  state  of  the  atmosphere  of  Venus 

90 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

makes  it  difficult  to  confirm  these  observations,  and 
the  question  of  the  rotation  period  of  the  planet  is 
still  an  open  one.  On  the  solution  of  that  question 
will  depend  the  answer  to  the  other  question  as  to 
whether  Venus  may  or  may  not  be  the  abode  of  life. 

WEIGHING  THE  STARS 

It  is  a  natural  assumption,  speaking  from  a  terres- 
trial standpoint,  that  some  or  many  of  the  stars  may 
have  planetary  systems  comparable  to  that  of  our 
particular  star,  the  sun.  Much  of  this  was  tacitly 
assumed  in  what  was  said  in  an  earlier  chapter  about 
the  possible  development  of  stellar  systems  out  of 
spiral  nebulae.  But  it  should  be  explained  that  the 
existence  of  such  minute  planetary  attendants  as 
those  that  make  up  the  sun's  family  is  a  matter  of 
pure  conjecture,  subject  neither  to  verification  nor 
refutation  unless  some  far  more  powerful  means  of 
investigation  than  those  provided  even  by  our  largest 
telescopes  shall  be  developed. 

To  understand  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  recall 
that  computation  shows  that  if  the  nearest  star, 
Alpha  Centauri,  had  a  planetary  attendant  similar  to 
the  earth,  its  astronomers,  even  if  provided  with 
telescopes  equal  to  the  great  Mt.  Wilson  reflector, 
would  be  unable  to  discover  that  our  sun  has  any 
attendants.  The  sun  itself  would  appear  as  a  small- 
ish first  magnitude  star,  and  the  very  best  that  could 
be  hoped  would  be  that  the  giant  Jupiter  would  be  re- 
corded on  a  photographic  plate  as  a  star  of  less  than 
the  twenty-first  magnitude  at  a  seeming  distance  of 
only  five  seconds  from  the  sun.  Yet  Alpha  Cen- 

91 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

tauri,  as  we  have  seen,  is  a  very  neighborly  star,  the 
second  nearest  star  being  more  than  twice  as  dis- 
tant. So  it  is  quite  beyond  the  range  of  present 
comprehension  that  any  means  should  ever  be  de- 
veloped through  which  astronomers  here  on  the  earth 
could  demonstrate  the  presence  of  bodies  compar- 
able in  size  to  the  earth  and  its  sister  planets  in  con- 
nection with  the  stellar  systems. 

But  while  it  thus  remains  an  open  question  as  to 
whether  there  are  small  planets  revolving  about  any 
star  other  than  our  sun,  it  is  not  at  all  in  doubt  that 
there  are  vast  numbers  of  stars  that  are  grouped 
into  systems  of  a  different  order,  comprising  two  or 
more  stellar  bodies  of  somewhat  similar  size  and 
therefore  making  up  systems  which  are  to  be  likened 
to  the  relations  of  the  earth  and  the  moon  rather 
than  of  the  sun  and  planets.  These  systems  have 
already  been  referred  to  as  double  stars. 

The  discovery  that  such  double  stars  exist  was 
made  by  Sir  William  Hershel  more  than  a  century 
ago.  From  that  day  to  this  the  discovery  of  double 
stars  has  gone  on,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  now 
known  that  this  condition  appears  to  be  the  rule 
rather  than  the  exception  in  the  sidereal  universe. 
In  some  cases  two  stars  more  or  less  equal  in 
brilliancy  are  observed  to  be  revolving  in  a  mutual 
orbit  in  such  manner  as  to  leave  it  scarcely  open  to 
doubt  that  the  laws  of  inertia  and  of  gravitation  de- 
termine their  orbits  precisely  as  the  same  laws 
determine  the  orbits  of  planets  about  the  sun  and 
of  satellites  about  the  planets  in  our  solar  system. 
ar§  other  cases  in  which  the  backward  and 
9* 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

forward  shift  of  a  star  having  no  visible  companion 
suggests  revolution  in  connection  with  a  dark  com- 
panion; and  the  classical  case  will  be  recalled  of 
Sirius,  the  observed  perturbations  of  which  were 
thus  explained  some  years  in  advance  of  the  dis- 
covery of  a  companion  too  dim  to  be  visible  until 
a  telescope  of  unexampled  power  had  been  con- 
structed by  Alvan  Clark. 

It  is  obvious  from  what  we  have  seen  as  to  the 
means  of  weighing  planets,  that  observation  of  the 
swing  of  the  two  stars  in  a  mutual  orbit  would  enable 
the  astronomer  to  compute  the  aggregate  mass  of 
the  two  bodies,  if  the  actual  size  of  their  orbit  can 
be  determined.  To  make  this  determination,  how- 
ever, it  is  necessary  to  know  the  distance  of  the 
stars  from  the  point  of  observation,  that  is  to  say 
from  the  earth;  and  this  as  we  have  seen  is  only  pos- 
sible in  case  the  stars  are  so  relatively  near  that  their 
parallax  can  be  determined  by  observations  taken  at 
opposite  points  of  the  earth's  orbit.  Fortunately  it 
happens,  however,  that  several  stars  of  known  paral- 
lax are  binary  stars.  Alpha  Centauri,  the  nearest 
of  all,  is  a  binary;  and  the  fact  that  Sirius,  known 
to  everyone  as  the  brilliant  Dog  Star,  is  a  binary 
has  just  been  referred  to.  In  both  these  cases,  as 
well  as  in  several  others,  the  astronomers  have  been 
able  to  translate  the  observed  orbital  shift  of  the 
stars  into  terms  of  actual  size  of  orbit,  and  thus  to 
compute  the  joint  mass  of  the  duplex  system  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  same  formula  which  gives  the 
mass  of  a  planet  and  its  satellite. 

It  appears  that  Sirius  and  his  companion  have 

93 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

jointly  more  than  three  times  (3.7)  the  mass  of  the 
sun.  The  double  star  known  as  85  Pegasi  has  a  mass 
more  than  eleven  times  that  of  the  sun;  and  the 
average  mass  of  the  first  six  pairs  of  the  double  stars 
to  be  weighed  is  3.5  times  that  of  the  sun.  Mean- 
time the  average  radiating  power  is  nearly  six  times 
that  of  the  sun.  So  far  as  these  limited  observations 
go,  they  give  warrant  to  the  belief  that  the  sun  is  a 
relatively  dull  star. 

In  some  cases  it  is  possible,  with  the  aid  of  the 
modern  instruments,  to  determine  the  orbits  of  a 
pair  of  double  stars  so  accurately  that  the  relative 
displacement  and  therefore  the  relative  sizes  of  the 
two  may  be  computed.  In  the  case  of  Sirius,  for 
example,  it  appears  that  the  larger  member  of  the 
pair  is  2.5  and  the  smaller  member  1.2  times  the  size 
of  the  sun.  It  is  notable  that,  although  the  two 
bodies  are  thus  not  so  very  different  in  size,  the 
larger  one  is  nearly  10,000  times  as  bright  as  its 
companion.  So  great  a  discrepancy  in  the  brilliancy, 
in  the  case  of  bodies  of  comparable  size,  is  not  easily 
accounted  for.  But  an  even  greater  difficulty  arises 
when  we  attempt  to  explain  the  case  of  85  Pegasi, 
in  which  it  is  computed  that  one  member  of  the  pair 
is  4.3  times  and  the  other  Y.8  times  the  size  of  the 
sun,  and  in  which  the  smaller  member  is  100  times 
as  luminous  as  the  larger.  Professor  Moulton  points 
out  that,  according  to  the  usual  estimates  made  from 
spectroscopic  appearances,  this  pair  of  stars  should 
be  much  older  than  the  Sirius  couple,  and  that  anal- 
ogy would  lead  us  to  expect  the  smaller  mass  to  be 
approaching  the  dark  stage,  instead  of  being  exceed- 

94 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

ingly  brilliant  as  it  is.  But  he  adds  that  the  data 
as  to  the  orbits  of  this  pair  of  stars  are  still  rather 
uncertain,  and  that  future  observations  may  give 
corrections  that  will  prove  our  present  estimate  of 
the  relative  masses  to  be  incorrect. 

In  explanation  of  this  element  of  uncertainty,  it 
should  be  noted  that  the  periods  of  orbital  revolu- 
tion of  the  visual  binary  systems  that  have  been 
measured,  vary  from  24  to  196  years,  and  that  the 
amount  of  apparent  shift  in  their  positions  is  so 
excessively  minute,  even  when  amplified  by  our 
most  powerful  telescopes,  that  it  is  matter  for  won- 
der not  that  there  should  be  uncertainties  in  the  esti- 
mate, but  that  it  should  be  possible  to  make  estimates 
having  any  degree  of  sureness. 

SPECTROSCOPIC  BINARIES 

The  feat  of  weighing  visual  binaries,  however, 
does  not  carry  us  quite  to  the  limits  of  the  astron- 
omers' present-day  miracles  of  world-weighing.  The 
final  stage  is  reached  in  the  case  of  the  so-called 
spectroscopic  binaries.  These  are  pairs  of  stars  so 
closely  linked  that  even  the  most  powerful  telescope 
reveals  the  couplet  only  as  a  single  point  of  light; 
yet  which  are  proved  by  a  double  shift  of  their  spec- 
troscopic lines — these  lines  alternately  showing 
single  and  double — to  constitute  two  foci  of  radia- 
tion,— that  is  to  say  two  stars.  The  first  discovery 
of  a  spectroscopic  binary  was  made  at  Harvard  Ob- 
servatory by  Miss  Maury  in  1889,  through  observa- 
tions of  photographs  of  the  well-known  bright  star 
Mizar.  On  examining  a  series  of  plates,  it  was  seen 

95 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

that  the  spectroscopic  lines  were  doubled  period- 
ically, every  52  days,  and  the  only  justifiable  infer- 
ence from  this  is  that  the  star  is  a  binary.  Mizar  was 
previously  known  as  a  telescopic  double,  but  the 
second  component  of  the  spectroscopic  binary  is  not 
the  one  that  can  be  seen  with  the  telescope.  In 
other  words,  one  of  the  visible  components  of  the 
spectroscopic  binary  is  itself  a  double  star,  the  parts 
of  which  are  too  close  together  to  be  separated  even 
with  the  most  powerful  instrument. 

There  is  yet  another  type  of  spectroscopic  binary, 
in  which  one  component  is  a  dark  star,  and  in  which 
the  orbital  shift  of  the  bright  companion  is  revealed 
by  a  backward  and  forward  movement  of  the  spec- 
troscopic lines.  To  detect  this  shift  it  is  necessary 
to  use  what  is  called  a  slit  spectroscope  at  the  eye- 
piece of  the  telescope  and  a  comparison  spectrum. 
The  first  binary  of  this  type  was  discovered  by  Vogel 
at  Potsdam,  also  in  1889,  the  star  first  observed  be- 
ing the  famous  variable  Algol.  Vogel  found  that 
the  lines  of  this  star  shift  back  and  forth  in  a  period 
precisely  conforming  to  the  period  of  its  variability 
(two  days,  20  hours,  49  minutes). 

It  had  long  been  supposed  that  the  observed  varia- 
bility of  Algol  must  be  due  to  the  periodical  partial 
eclipse  of  the  bright  star  by  a  dark  companion  which 
chanced  to  be  revolving  in  an  orbit  precisely  in  our 
line  of  sight.  But  this  remained  a  pure  conjecture 
until  the  spectroscopic  test  proved  that  the  star  is 
a  binary  revolving  in  an  orbit  with  a  dark  com- 
panion. Moreover,  the  shift  of  the  spectroscopic 
lines  agreed  perfectly  in  point  of  time  with  the  re- 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

quirements  of  the  explanation,  thus  making  it  vir- 
tually certain  that  the  explanation  is  correct. 

In  recent  years  large  numbers  of  spectroscopic 
binaries  have  been  observed,  the  periods  of  which 
vary  from  1.45  days  to  a  term  of  years.  The  shift 
of  the  spectroscopic  lines  determines  the  speed  of 
the  star,  and  this  makes  it  possible  to  compute  the 
actual  orbit,  provided  the  star  is  one  of  measured 
parallax.  Such  is  the  case,  for  example,  with  Miss 
Maury's  first  spectroscopic  binary  Mizar.  Vogel's 
later  test  showed  that  the  period  of  this  star  is  about 
twenty  and  one-half  days.  Taken  in  connection 
with  the  size  of  the  orbit  this  shows  that  the  mass 
of  the  pair  is  about  twenty  times  that  of  the  sun. 
Here,  then,  is  a  case  in  which  the  presence  of  an 
absolutely  invisible  body  enables  the  astronomer  to 
determine  the  aggregate  mass  of  that  body  and  its 
bright  companion.  It  is  not  possible,  however,  by 
any  means  at  present  known  to  determine  with  pre- 
cision the  relative  mass  of  the  two  components.  But 
it  is  a  sufficiently  wonderful  achievement  to  demon- 
strate the  existence  of  a  dark  star  and  to  gain  even 
an  approximate  knowledge  of  its  weight. 

Indeed,  it  is  hard  to  conceive  of  any  unexplored 
field  of  astronomical  discovery  that  can  have  a 
greater  wonder  than  this  in  store  for  us. 

SOME  INTERESTING  STAR-GROUPS 

The  dark  stars  have  peculiar  interest  because  of 
what  they  reveal  as  to  star  groupings  that  have 
greater  or  less  resemblance  to  the  mechanism  of  the 
solar  system. 

97 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

A  notable  example  of  a  star  accompanied  by  dark 
companions  is  the  pole  star  itself.  Professor  Camp- 
bell has  shown  that  this  star  has  two  dark  associates 
circling  about  it.  One  of  these  is  so  near  that  it 
makes  the  circuit  in  about  four  days;  the  other  so 
distant  that  its  period  of  revolution  is  several  years. 

There  are  numerous  double  stars  that  may  readily 
be  located  by  the  amateur.  One  of  the  most  inter- 
esting is  Mizar,  already  referred  to.  It  is  readily 
located,  as  it  is  the  second  star  from  the  end  of  the 
handle  of  the  big  dipper.  A  sharp  eye  may  see  that 
this  star  has  a  small  companion.  A  three-inch  tele- 
scope will  show  that  one  of  these  two  stars  is  white 
and  the  other  emerald  in  color.  The  two  are  in 
reality  so  far  apart  that  to  an  observer  on  the  small 
one  the  large  one  would  look  only  as  a  bright  star 
looks  from  the  earth.  Yet  the  spectroscope  shows 
that  this  larger  companion  is  itself  composed  of  two 
suns,  separated  by  a  distance  of  about  36,000,000 
miles, — something  more  than  the  distance  of  our 
planet  Mercury  from  the  sun.  They  are  more  than 
100  light  years  from  our  system,  and  no  telescope 
separates  the  two  components.  Yet  the  shift  of  their 
spectroscopic  lines  enables  astronomers  to  compute 
that  Mizar  has  twenty  times  the  bulk  of  our  sun, 
and  is  coming  toward  us  at  the  rate  of  twenty  miles 
an  hour. 

Another  interesting  double  is  the  small  star  lying 
rather  inconspicuously  in  one  of  the  middle  arms  of 
the  big  W-shaped  cluster  in  the  constellation  Cassio- 
peia. A  small  telescope  separates  the  two  compo- 
nents, which  in  reality  lie  so  far  apart  that  they  re- 


WEIGHING    THE    WORLDS 

volve  about  each  other  in  a  two-hundred  year  period. 
As  Professor  Moulton  has  suggested,  if  there  are 
planets  in  this  system,  the  phenomena  of  night  and 
day  must  be  curiously  complicated. 

The  second  magnitude  star  Algol,  which  lies  about 
half  way  between  the  W  in  Cassiopeia  and  the 
familiar  cluster  of  the  Pleiades,  is  a  double  star  of 
peculiar  interest  because  one  of  the  components  is 
a  dark  body  that  chances  to  revolve  in  such  a  direc- 
tion that  it  partly  eclipses  its  bright  companion.  As 
it  makes  a  complete  revolution  in  less  than  three 
days,  the  fading  out  and  rejuvenescence  of  Algol 
takes  place  in  a  period  of  a  few  hours  during  which 
the  star  sinks  from  second  magnitude  almost  to  in- 
visibility and  returns  again  to  second  magnitude. 
These  changes  may  readily  be  observed  with  the 
naked  eye. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  pole  star  from  Algol 
lies  the  very  interesting  constellation  Lyra.  The 
very  bright  star  Vega  enables  one  readily  to  locate 
this  constellation.  This  star,  as  we  have  seen,  chances 
to  lie  within  a  few  degrees  of  the  direction  in  which 
our  solar  system  is  drifting. 

Near  Vega  is  one  of  the  most  famous  of  double 
stars,  known  as  Beta  Lyrae,  which  changes  its  bright- 
ness by  more  than  a  magnitude  in  a  period  of  a  little 
less  than  thirteen  days.  It  has  been  estimated  to  be 
a  double  with  components  10,000,000  miles  in  diam- 
eter, and  having  respectively  ten  and  twenty-one 
times  the  mass  of  our  sun.  These  two  colossal  bodies 
revolve  about  a  common  orbit  so  small  that  the  two 
stars,  which  are  necessarily  elongated  by  their  mutual 

99 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

gravitational  effect,  are  believed  to  be  practically  in 
contact.  This  supposition  does  not  do  violence  to  the 
rule  of  Roche's  limit,  which  prohibits  solid  bodies  to 
maintain  such  close  contiguity,  for  the  calculations 
show  that  these  stars,  notwithstanding  their  enor- 
mous mass,  have  an  average  density  less  than  that 
of  air  at  sea  level.  Beta  Lyrae  is  therefore  in  effect 
a  double  nebula;  but  to  the  mundane  observer  it 
appears  as  a  single  point  of  light. 

Not  far  from  this  star  there  is  a  nebula  of  vastly 
greater  proportions  which  belongs  to  the  small  group 
of  ringed  nebluae  and  is  the  only  one  of  its  class  that 
may  be  seen  through  a  small  telescope.  The  interest- 
ing peculiarities  of  this  nebula  are  brought  out  to 
advantage  only  by  the  largest  instruments,  but  the 
amateur  will  find  it  well  worth  inspection  even  with 
a  three-inch  glass. 

The  central  star  in  this  nebular  ring  suggests  that 
a  gigantic  solar  system  is  here  in  process  of  construc- 
tion. The  ring  may  represent  a  mass  of  nebular  mat- 
ter that  has  failed  to  aggregate  into  a  planet  through 
lack  of  a  nucleus  of  condensation. 


IV 
EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

IF  you  take  a  lump  of  dry  salt  between  your  thumb 
and  fingers  you  may  readily  reduce  it  to  an  im- 
palpable powder.  If  you  were  to  dust  some  of  the 
almost  invisible  grains  of  this  powder  upon  a  glass 
slide  and  examine  them  through  a  microscope,  you 
would  find  that  the  smallest  of  the  dust-like  particles 
now  seems  rather  like  a  rough  and  jagged  piece  of 
rock  rather  than  like  the  infinitesimal  thing  it  ap- 
peared to  the  naked  eye.  It  is  easy  to  believe  that 
this  fragment  of  matter  is  built  up  of  smaller  par- 
ticles and  is  nowhere  near  the  limits  of  divisibility. 

If  now  you  put  a  few  drops  of  water  on  the  slide, 
you  will  see  the  rock-like  particle  of  salt  fade  away 
and  dissolve  into  nothingness.  It  has  become  abso- 
lutely invisible.  If  the  microscope  you  are  using  is 
a  powerful  one,  this  means  that  there  remains  no 
particle  of  the  salt  of  the  size  of  one-hundred-thou- 
sandth of  an  inch. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  portion  of  salt  has  now  been 
separated  into  molecules  so  small  that  many  millions 
of  them  must  be  massed  together  to  form  the  smallest 
visible  particle  of  matter.  These  molecules  are  in  all 
probability  moving  about  freely  among  the  mole- 
cules of  water,  It  is  not  quite  absolutely  certain  as 

SOI 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

are  the^precise  relations  that  obtain  between 
the  particles  of  the  salt  and  the  particles  of  the  sol- 
vent. The  best  authenticated  theory  as  to  what  takes 
place  is  that  which  Svante  Arrhenius,  the  famous 
Swedish  chemist,  put  forward  as  long  ago  as  1887, 
and  which  has  been  more  or  less  matter  of  contro- 
versy ever  since. 

In  accordance  with  this  theory,  which  is  known 
as  the  ion  theory,  a  portion  at  least  of  the  molecules 
of  salt  are  broken  up  in  the  process  of  solution  into 
so-called  ions,  each  or  which  consists  of  an  atom 
charged  with  electricity.  A  molecule  of  salt  as  is 
well  known,  is  composed  of  one  atom  of  sodium  and 
one  atom  of  chlorine.  In  the  salt  solution,  according 
to  the  theory  of  Arrhenius,  each  liberated  atom  of 
sodium  would  convey  a  unit  charge  of  positive  elec- 
tricity and  each  liberated  atom  of  chlorine  a  unit 
charge  of  negative  electricity. 

The  ions  would  be  free  to  move  about  in  the 
solvent,  and  their  capacity  for  such  motion  is  demon- 
strated when  an  electric  current  is  passed  through 
the  solution.  In  such  an  event,  the  positively  charged 
ion  is  moved  toward  the  negative  pole,  and  the  nega- 
tively charged  ones  toward  the  positive  pole.  The 
fact  of  such  migration  is  demonstrated,  in  the  case 
of  solutions  of  metallic  salts,  in  the  familiar  process 
of  electro-plating,  in  which,  as  is  familiarly  known, 
particles  of  pure  metal,  copper  or  silver,  are  deposited 
at  the  negative  electrode.  It  is  believed  that  the  ion 
in  its  migration  carries  with  it  a  film  of  the  solvent. 
The  rate  of  migration  was  first  measured  by  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge,  and  various  investigators  have  re- 

IO2 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

peated  and  modified  his  experiments.  It  is  shown 
that  different  ions  move  at  varying  speed,  and  that 
the  rate  of  motion  bears  a  certain  relation  to  the 
atomic  weights  of  the  various  atoms. 

The  ion  theory  was  early  championed  and  various- 
ly tested  by  Professor  Wilhelm  Ostwald,  who  not 
only  viewed  it  in  connection  with  his  elaborate  in- 
vestigations of  acids,  but  pointed  out  its  relation  to 
the  theory  of  osmosis  advanced  at  about  the  same 
time  by  the  Dutch  chemist  J.  H.  Van't  Hoff.  Ac- 
cording to  this  theory,  the  familiar  but  hitherto  in- 
explicable phenomena  of  osmosis,  in  accordance  with 
which  water  passes  through  a  membrane  from  a  less 
concentrated  to  a  more  concentrated  solution,  are 
due  to  the  pressure  on  the  membrane  of  the  mole- 
cules in  the  solvent;  which  pressure,  according  to 
the  theory,  is  precisely  the  same  that  would  be  ex- 
erted by  a  corresponding  number  of  molecules  mak- 
ing up  an  equal  bulk  of  a  gas. 

The  theory  of  Van't  Hoff  met  with  certain  contra- 
dictions so  long  as  the  molecules  of  a  salt  were 
regarded  as  maintaining  their  stability  in  solution, 
but  when  these  molecules  were  thought  of  in  con- 
nection with  the  ion  theory  as  split  up  into  their 
component  atoms,  the  theory  harmonized  with  the 
observed  facts.  Thus  the  new  ion  theory  of  solution 
and  the  theory  of  osmosis  tended  to  support  each 
other.  The  fact  that  each  ion  of  the  disassociated 
molecule  conveys  a  charge  of  electricity  is  the  essen- 
tial fact  lying  back  of  all  chemical  activity  whatever. 
Thus  the  ion  theory,  or  as  it  is  also  called  the  dis- 
association  theory,  is  of  fundamental  importance  in 

103 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

chemistry.  kWhile  it  is  not  given  universal  assent,  it 
finds  support  in  an  ever-widening  series  of  observa- 
tions. 

THE  ZEEMAN    EFFECT 

Regardless  of  theoretical  explanations  of  the 
conditions  that  obtain  in  our  salt  solution,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  particles  into  which  the  salt  has 
separated  in  the  process  of  dissolving  are  so  small 
that  they  do  not  obstruct  the  light  waves;  otherwise 
the  solution  of  which  they  now  form  a  part  would 
not  be  transparent.  But  if  we  were  to  thrust  a  plati- 
num wire  into  the  colorless  solution  and  then  hold 
the  wire  in  the  flame  of  a  Bunsen  gas  burner,  the 
flame  will  instantly  take  on  a  peculiar  yellow  color 
which  proves  to  the  discerning  eye  that  the  parti- 
cles of  salt  have  been  rendered  luminous.  If  this 
green  flame  is  examined  through  a  spectroscope,  the 
rays  of  light  coming  from  it  will  be  observed  to  be 
split  up  into  a  characteristic  series  of  lines. 

This  particular  series  of  spectral  lines  would  not 
appear  in  light  emanating  from  anything  but  sodium. 
No  other  substance  in  the  world  can  duplicate  that 
record.  The  same  series  of  lines  might  appear  in 
the  light  coming  from  the  sun  or  from  a  star;  but 
they  would  prove  the  presence  of  sodium  at  the 
source  of  light. 

These  lines  spell  sodium  in  the  language  which 
any  chemist  in  the  world  can  read;  and  the  signature 
of  the  spectrum  cannot  be  forged  or  duplicated. 

What  is  true  of  sodium  is  true  of  every  other 
element.  Each  has  a  sign  manual  that  it  writes  as 

104 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

a  series  of  lines  in  the  spectrum.  The  chemical  test 
thus  afforded  is  exquisitely  delicate.  There  may  be 
but  the  smallest  trace  of  a  given  substance  present, 
as  in  the  case  of  our  infinitesimal  droplet  of  salt  solu- 
tion, but  the  tell-tale  lines  of  the  spectrum  will 
record  the  trace  of  this  individual  substance,  even  in 
the  midst  of  many  other  substances. 

If  while  examining  our  sodium  flame  through  the 
spectroscope  we  were  to  hold  the  flame  between 
the  poles  of  a  powerful  electro-magnet,  we  should 
observe  that  the  sodium  lines  which  before  appeared 
single  are  now  split  in  two  and  separated.  This 
phenomenon  is  called  the  Zeeman  effect  in  honor  of 
its  discoverer,  Professor  Peter  Zeeman  of  Amster- 
dam. It  is  a  phenomenon  of  vast  importance  from 
the  physicist's  standpoint,  inasmuch  as  it  gives  inter- 
esting clues  to  the  activities  of  the  atomic  forces, 
and  to  the  character  of  light. 

This  phenomenon  of  the  splitting  up  of  spectral 
lines  has  been  observed  by  Professor  George  E.  Hale, 
Director  of  the  Mt.  Wilson  Observatory,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  light  emanating  from  spots  on  the 
surface  of  the  sun.  The  observation  shows  that  sun 
spots  are  powerful  magnetic  fields.  Thus  the  sun 
spot  gives  a  demonstration  on  a  magnificent  scale 
of  physical  laws  that  may  be  tested,  changed  only  in 
degree  and  not  in  kind,  in  the  laboratory. 

Incidentally,  Professor  Kale's  observation  serves 
in  a  sense  to  explain  the  relation  that  had  previously 
been  observed  between  outbursts  of  sun  spots — 
which  are  in  reality  gigantic  volcanoes  of  gaseous 
matter — and  disturbances  of  terrestrial  magnetism. 

8  105 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

Professor  Hale  thinks  that  the  magnetic  field  may 
be  due  to  the  rapid  flow,  in  a  vortex  current,  of 
negative  ions  from  the  hotter  gases  at  the  circum- 
ference of  the  spot  towards  the  cooler  gases  at  the 
center. 

A  further  interest  attaches  to  the  Zeeman  effect 
(whether  manifested  in  the  laboratory  or  in  the  sun) 
from  the  fact  that  it  demonstrates  the  close  relation- 
ship between  magnetism  and  light.  In  Professor 
Zeeman's  words,  it  shows  that  light  is  an  electrical 
phenomenon.  Meantime  our  experiment  with  the 
sodium  flame  demonstrated,  obviously  enough,  a 
close  relation  between  the  activities  of  molecules  or 
atoms  of  matter  and  the  origin  of  light  itself. 

LIGHT  BEYOND  THE  SPECTRUM 

A  single  experiment  thus  suffices  to  show  curious 
and  interesting  relationships  between  the  ultimate 
particles  of  matter  and  those  manifestations  of  energy 
which  we  term  light,  electricity,  and  magnetism. 
Meantime  it  is  matter  of  every-day  observation  that 
there  is  ordinarily  the  closest  relationship  between 
light  and  that  other  manifestation  of  energy  termed 
heat. 

It  is  no  matter  for  great  surprise,  then,  to  be  told 
that  the  different  portions  of  the  spectrum  into  which 
a  beam  of  light  is  spread  out  show  different  degrees 
of  temperature  when  tested  by  an  apparatus  of  suf- 
ficient delicacy.  It  appears,  in  point  of  fact,  that  the 
dark  lines  in  the  spectrum  are  also  areas  of  relative 
coolness,  and  that  the  spectrum  may  be  charted  by 
moving  a  sufficiently  delicate  heat  measurer  along  it. 

106 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

The  instrument  with  which  this  feat  of  measuring 
infinitesimal  gradations  of  temperature  is  accom- 
plished is  known  as  a  bolometer,  and  was  invented 
by  the  late  Professor  Langley  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution. 

The  principle  on  which  the  bolometer  is  construct- 
ed is  that  any  change  of  temperature  in  a  metal 
changes  the  capacity  of  that  metal  as  a  conductor 
of  electricity.  By  using  an  excessively  tenuous  flat- 
tened thread  of  platinum  for  his  conductor,  and  an 
exquisitely  sensitive  galvanometer  to  register  the 
effects,  Langley  produced  an  instrument  which  will 
respond  to  changes  of  temperature  so  slight  in  degree 
that  no  one  could  reasonably  have  supposed  them 
measurable.  Indeed  the  feats  accomplished  by  the 
little  instrument  are  as  incredible,  not  to  say  fantastic, 
as  the  feats  of  the  spectroscope  itself. 

A  generation  ago  instruments  for  physical  research 
had  attained  a  high  stage  of  development;  but  to 
measure  a  change  of  temperature  of  one-thousandth 
of  a  degree  was  considered  a  remarkable  feat.  The 
layman  will  be  disposed  to  admit  that  it  is  a  remark- 
able feat.  But  the  perfected  Langley  bolometer 
measures  a  change  of  one-hundred-millionth  of  a  de- 
gree. It  is  competent  to  deal  with  the  infinitesimal 
quantities  of  heat  that  come  to  us  from  such  bodies 
as  the  moon  and  the  brighter  stars. 

As  a  practical  apparatus,  the  bolometer's  chief  use 
has  been  to  test  the  precise  quantities  of  heat  that 
come  to  us  from  the  sun.  Langley  himself  used  it 
for  this  purpose,  and  since  his  death  Professor  C.  G. 
Abbott  has  conducted  an  elaborate  series  of  experi- 

107 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

ments,  chiefly  at  the  solar  observatory  at  Mt.  Wilson, 
to  determine  the  "solar  constant."  He  makes  the 
solar  constant  1.92  calories  per  minute  per  square 
centimeter  of  surface  normal  to  the  solar  radiation 
at  the  earth's  mean  distance;  but  he  strongly  suspects 
that  the  radiation  is  variable  to  the  extent  of  about 
8  per  cent,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days.  It  is  probable, 
therefore,  that  the  "solar  constant"  is  not  a  constant; 
and  that  our  sun  is  a  variable  star.  Knowledge  of 
this  variability  of  the  sun  as  a  heat-giver  will  perhaps 
ultimately  be  available  in  predicting  weather  condi- 
tions here  on  the  earth  as  influenced  by  sun  spots 
or  other  solar  phenomena. 

But  aside  from  these  practical  results,  very  great 
interest  attaches  to  the  work  done  with  the  bolo- 
meter, in  that  it  enables  the  observer  to  detect  and 
measure  the  presence  of  waves  of  energy  beyond  the 
visible  spectrum.  Indeed,  it  appears  that  an  impor- 
tant concentration  of  heat  rays  occurs  in  the  dark 
region  below  the  deepest  red,  although  in  a  normal 
spectrum  the  greatest  focus  of  energy  is  in  the  blue. 

Langley  was  able  with  the  bolometer  to  chart  this 
infra-red  region  of  invisible  light,  if  the  term  be  per- 
mitted. He  not  only  tested  its  gradations  of  heat 
but  showed  that  it  is  crossed  by  hundreds  of  char- 
acteristic cool  bands  comparable  to  the  dark  lines  of 
the  visible  spectrum. 

Meantime  it  had  been  discovered  that  the  rays  of 
light  that  chiefly  affect  the  photographic  plate  are 
those  toward  the  violet  end  of  the  spectrum,  and 
extending  into  a  region  beyond  the  utmost  visible 
portion  of  the  violet.  It  had  long  been  known  that 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

the  color  red  represents  relatively  long  light  waves, 
whereas  violet  represents  short  waves.  It  now  be- 
came obvious  that  the  eye  detects  only  a  small  part 
of  the  series  of  ethereal  vibrations,  and  that  all  radi- 
ant energy  given  off  by  a  luminous  body  includes  a 
long  series  of  waves  on  either  side  of  the  visible 
spectrum,  each  series  having  its  peculiar  and  char- 
acteristic effects. 

THE  PRESSURE  OF  LIGHT 

This  dissection  of  the  ray  of  radiant  energy  was 
made,  as  we  have  seen,  with  the  aid  of  the  spectro- 
scope. It  is  obvious,  however,  that  an  ordinary  beam 
of  light,  before  it  is  split  up  by  a  prism,  must  contain 
the  entire  series  of  waves  of  energy — heat  waves, 
light  waves,  and  ultra-violet  waves — blended  and 
intermingled.  We  have  just  seen  that  different 
portions  of  those  waves  may  be  tested  by  the  ther- 
mometer (or  by  its  more  delicate  counterpart  the 
bolometer),  by  the  eye  with  or  without  the  aid  of 
the  spectroscope,  and  by  the  photographic  plate. 

But  there  is  a  joint  effect  of  the  waves  of  radiant 
energy  which  may  be  interpreted  in  terms  neither 
of  heat,  light,  nor  photographic  effect,  but  in  terms 
of  physical  pressure. 

The  exquisitely  delicate  instrument  which  meas- 
ures this  effect  is  called  the  radiometer.  It  was  de- 
vised by  two  American  physicists,  Professors  E.  F. 
Nichols  and  G.  F.  Hull,  and  it  is  in  effect  a  more 
delicate  modification  of  an  apparatus  first  made  by 
the  English  physicist  Professor  Crookes.  The  little 
instrument  demonstrates  that  the  waves  in  the  ether 

109 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

which  are  interpreted  as  heat  or  light  or  electro 
magnetism,  and  which  are  rushing  through  space  at 
the  speed  of  186,000  miles  per  second,  wash  against 
any  object  that  lies  in  their  path  with  an  actual  pres- 
sure— manifesting  themselves  as  a  positive  push,  in 
addition  to  their  other  effects. 

This  is  quite  what  one  might  expect,  perhaps,  were 
it  not  that  the  ether  is  so  exceedingly  intangible  an 
entity — one  dare  not  say  substance.  Clerk-Maxwell, 
the  most  famous  student  of  the  ether,  did  indeed 
declare,  from  theoretical  considerations,  that  this 
push  must  take  place.  But  between  theory  and 
demonstration  there  may  be  a  wide  gap,  and  it  re- 
mained for  the  experiments  of  Professor  Lebedew 
in  Europe  and  of  Professors  Nichols  and  Hull  in 
America,  undertaken  simultaneously  but  quite  in- 
dependently, to  place  the  matter  beyond  dispute. 
Now  we  know  that  every  ray  of  sunlight  gives  a  posi- 
tive push  to  any  material  substance  it  reaches,  and 
that  a  similar  push  accompanies  all  other  radiations. 

And  as  every  body  not  at  the  absolute  zero  of 
temperature — a  degree  of  cold  never  yet  attained 
in  a  terrestrial  laboratory,  and  obtaining,  if  any- 
where, only  in  the  depths  of  interstellar  space — is 
giving  off  radiations,  it  follows  that  all  bodies  are 
pushing  and  tending  to  repel  all  other  bodies  that 
their  radiations  can  reach. 

The  instrument  that  has  demonstrated  the  exist- 
ence of  this  hitherto  only  vaguely  suspected  force 
consists  of  two  discs  of  thin  glass  (one  disc  blacken- 
ed, the  other  polished),  suspended  by  a  quartz  thread 
in  a  vacuum.  When  waves  of  radiant  energy  impinge 

no 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

on  this  delicate  apparatus  they  disturb  its  balance, 
because  the  blackened  disc  absorbs  the  rays  whereas 
the  bright  disc  reflects  them.  So  wonderfully  delicate 
is  the  adjustment  that  a  candle  placed  more  than 
one-third  of  a  mile  away  turns  the  vanes  of  the  instru- 
ment through  nearly  one  hundred  scale-divisions.  As 
one-tenth  of  a  single  division  can  be  readily  detected, 
it  will  be  seen  that  a  candle  at  this  distance  by  no 
means  puts  the  implement  to  its  fullest  test. 

It  is  estimated  that,  were  there  no  atmospheric 
obstruction,  the  candle  could  be  detected  at  a  dis- 
tance of  sixteen  miles.  The  face  of  an  observer  can 
be  detected  at  a  distance  of  several  miles;  at  two 
thousand  feet  it  turns  the  vanes  through  twenty-five 
scale  divisions. 

So  every  human  countenance  glows  as  a  beacon 
light,  signaling  out  for  miles  in  every  direction — only 
one  must  be  equipped  with  a  radiometer  if  one  would 
note  or  heed  the  signals. 

Directed  toward  the  sky,  the  radiometer  proves 
adequate  to  the  task  of  registering  the  radiant  energy 
of  the  larger  stars  and  planets.  The  experiments  of 
Professor  Nichols  have  sufficed  to  show  that  the 
radiation  push  of  a  star  can  not  be  definitely  predi- 
cated from  observation  of  its  luminosity.  Thus  it 
was  found  that  the  planet  Saturn  has  only  about 
three-fourths  the  thermal  effect  of  the  star  Vega;  the 
star  Arcturus  produces  three  times  the  effect  of  Sat- 
urn; the  planet  Jupiter  more  than  six  times  as  much, 
— relations  quite  different  from  the  relative  bright- 
ness to  the  eye  of  these  various  bodies. 

Very  recently  Professor  A.  H.  Pfund  of  Johns 

in 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

Hopkins  University  has  perfected  a  thermal  couple 
which,  as  a  detector  of  heat,  is  more  than  ten  times 
as  sensitive  as  the  radiometer.  Used  in  conjunction 
with  the  100-inch  mirror  of  the  new  Mount  Wilson 
telescope,  this  instrument  would  detect  the  heat  of 
a  candle  sixty  miles  distant.  It  suggests  interesting 
new  possibilities  of  investigations.  Doubtless  in  time 
extended  observations  will  teach  us  important  les- 
sons about  the  nature  of  the  various  stars,  as  re- 
corded by  variations  in  radiation.  Meantime,  the 
proof  that  this  radiant-push  exists  and  is  everywhere 
operative  is  in  the  highest  degree  interesting  and 
important.  For  an  ether  wave  that  pushes  with  such 
force  against  anything  with  which  it  comes  in  con- 
tact must  be  a  factor  in  the  distribution  throughout 
the  universe  not  only  of  energy  but  of  matter. 

Professor  Svante  Arrhenius,  the  famous  Swedish 
physicist,  has  estimated  the  size  of  a  particle  of  mat- 
ter which  would  be  driven  before  the  light  waves, 
as  particles  of  dust  are  driven  before  the  wind.  He 
believes  that  radiation  pressure  explains  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  comet's  tail,  of  the  sun's  corona, 
and  of  the  aurora  borealis,  the  latter  being  due  to 
the  activities  of  electrified  particles  driven  to  the 
earth  from  the  sun.  Thus  radiation  is  in  a  sense  a 
counterforce  to  gravitation. 

What  gives  the  phenomenon  chief  interest  from 
the  present  standpoint,  however,  is  that  it  shows  the 
tremendous  energy  of  the  atomic  forces  that  send 
out  the  ether  waves.  A  molecule  or  atom  vibrating 
in  such  a  way  as  to  send  off — at  the  rate  of  many 
billions  per  second,  and  at  a  speed  of  186,000  miles 

112 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

per  second — waves  powerful  enough  to  drive  rela- 
tively large  particles  of  matter  before  them,  must 
be  in  itself  a  center  of  energy  of  astounding  power, 
notwithstanding  the  incomprehensible  minuteness  of 
its  size. 

All  these  studies  of  the  different  manifestations 
of  energy  point  in  the  direction  of  the  atom,  and 
give  us  more  or  less  vague  estimates  of  the  activities 
of  this  tiny  structure.  It  remained  for  a  new  line 
of  investigation  to  reveal  the  atom  itself.  The  new 
observations  came  about  through  the  discovery  of 
substances  having  curious  properties  hitherto  un- 
suspected but  now  familiar  to  everyone  under  the 
name  of  radioactivity. 

A  NEW  TYPE  OF  RADIATION 

The  initial  discovery  of  a  radioactive  substance 
was  made  by  the  French  physicist  Becquerel,  through 
the  accidental  observation  of  the  effect  of  the  chemi- 
cal called  uranium  on  a  photographic  plate.  The 
discovery  of  other  radioactive  substances,  including 
radium,  by  Professor  and  Mme.  Curie,  quickly  fol- 
lowed, and  the  strange  new  properties  were  studied 
by  many  workers,  chief  among  whom  is  Professor 
Ernest  Rutherford,  now  of  Manchester  University. 

The  essential  phonomena  of  radioactivity  consist  in 
the  giving  off  of  rays  capable  of  affecting  the  photo- 
graphic plate  and  of  penetrating  opaque  substances. 
The  radiation  comprises  at  least  three  different  types 
of  rays,  which  have  been  named  alpha,  beta,  and 
gamma  rays.  It  is  now  known  that  the  alpha  rays 
consist  of  relatively  heavy  particles  which  are  in  r$- 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

ality  atoms  of  helium  each  carrying  a  double  charge 
of  positive  electricity. 

The  beta  ray  is  identical  with  the  cathode  ray 
which  develops  when  electricity  is  passed  through 
a  Crookes'  or  vacuum  tube. 

The  gamma  ray  is  identical  with  the  X-ray  which 
is  developed  when  a  cathode  ray  strikes  the  walls  of 
the  glass  receptacle.  It  is  due  to  the  impingement 
of  beta  rays  on  the  particles  of  the  radioactive  sub- 
stance itself,  and  it  probably  constitutes  a  pulsation 
in  the  ether  of  a  kind  analagous  to  the  waves  of  light 
and  electro-magnetism. 

The  alpha  ray  has  been  studied  with  great  care 
and  it  has  given  up  one  secret  after  another.  That 
the  alpha  particle  is  an  atom  of  helium,  is  a  startling 
fact.  For  helium  is  an  element  hitherto  known  as  an 
inert  constituent  of  the  atmosphere.  And  to  suppose 
that  one  element  can  be  transformed  into  another 
is  to  suggest  a  restoration  of  the  obsolete  heresy  of 
the  alchemist.  Nevertheless  the  demonstration  is 
complete  that  the  alpha  ray  does  consist  of  helium 
atoms,  and  that  it  is  precisely  the  same  whether  it 
emanates  from  thorium,  from  radium,  or  from  any 
other  known  radioactive  substance — however  the 
fact  may  be  explained. 

COUNTING  THE  ATOMS 

Of  the  many  theoretical  and  practical  considera- 
tions that  attend  the  subject  none  perhaps  has  a 
greater  interest  than  the  experiments  which  have 
made  it  possible  to  isolate  an  individual  atom  and 
actually  test  its  size. 

114 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

The  apparatus  through  which  this  seemingly 
miraculous  feat  has  been  accomplished,  is  known  as 
the  electroscope.  It  is  an  instrument  which  constant- 
ly serves  the  student  of  radioactivity.  Even  as  com- 
pared with  the  spectroscope  and  bolometer  and 
radiometer,  it  is  an  apparatus  of  extraordinary  deli- 
cacy. 

The  spectroscope,  as  we  have  seen,  reveals  infini- 
tesimal traces  of  a  substance.  It  can  show  the  pres- 
ence of  the  minutest  quantity  of  a  gas  in  a  tube  that 
in  ordinary  parlance  would  be  said  to  be  absolutely 
empty.  But  even  the  best  vacuum  that  the  physicist 
is  able  to  produce  contains  many  millions  of  gaseous 
molecules  to  the  cubic  inch.  So  after  all  the  spectro- 
scope is  dealing  with  a  vast  swarm  of  molecules  when 
it  performs  its  most  delicate  feats.  But  the  electro- 
scope, as  just  intimated,  is  capable,  under  certain 
circumstances,  of  detecting  the  presence  of  a  single 
atom.  The  tests  that  it  can  apply  are  estimated  to  be 
500,000  times  more  delicate  than  the  finest  tests  of 
the  spectroscope. 

In  principle  the  electroscope  is  simplicity  itself. 
It  consists  essentially  of  two  bits  of  gold  leaf  sus- 
pended loosely  together.  If  these  gold  leaves  are 
electrified  their  mutual  repulsion  holds  them  apart. 
But  if  the  electricity  is  discharged  they  fall  together. 
Under  ordinary  conditions  perfectly  dry  air  is  a  non- 
conductor of  electricity;  therefore  a  charged  electro- 
scope shows  its  leaves  spread  apart.  If  the  atmos- 
phere is  electrified,  or  as  the  technical  phrase  is, 
ionized,  it  becomes  a  conductor  and  permits  the  elec- 
tricity to  escape. 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

The  test  which  showed  the  ultimate  capacity  of  the 
electroscope  was  made  recently  by  Professor  Ernest 
Rutherford.  He  connected  an  electroscope  with  a 
closed  cavity  having  a  small  aperture  on  one  side, 
and  near  this  aperture  he  placed  a  surface  covered 
with  radium.  A  certain  number  of  the  alpha  particles 
thrown  out  by  the  radium  could  enter  the  receptacle 
through  the  aperture.  The  radium  was  placed  at 
such  a  distance  that  only  three  or  four  particles  per 
minute,  of  the  shower  flying  in  all  directions,  would 
be  shot  through  the  little  window. 

It  was  found  possible  to  adjust  the  electroscope  to 
such  a  state  of  delicate  responsiveness  that  the  en- 
trance of  a  single  alpha  particle  discharged  it. 

Thus  it  was  possible  to  compute  the  number  of 
alpha  particles  that  are  sent  out  by  a  given  quantity 
of  radium  in  a  given  time.  Other  experiments  con- 
ducted by  Professor  James  Dewar,  of  London,  have 
carefully  measured  the  quantity  of  helium  gas  that 
arises  from  a  given  quantity  of  radium.  It  is  ob- 
vious that  the  two  experiments  combined  show  the 
number  of  helium  atoms  that  make  up  a  given  quan- 
tity of  helium  gas. 

Now  it  has  long  been  known  that  all  gases  under 
equal  conditions  of  temperature  and  pressure,  con- 
tain the  same  number  of  molecules.  A  molecule 
may  contain  one  or  more  atoms,  but  this  also  is 
something  that  the  physicist  has  long  been  able  to 
compute.  It  follows  that  the  physicist  is  now  able, 
thanks  to  the  test  performed  by  Professor  Ruther- 
ford with  the  electroscope,  to  compute  the  number 
of  atoms  in  any  gas  of  known  chemical  composition. 

116 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

As  most  solid  substances  can  be  reduced  to  the  gas- 
eous condition  in  known  proportions,  the  number  of 
atoms  in  a  given  quantity  of  any  solid  may  also  be 
quite  generally  computed. 

The  figures  revealed  are  utterly  bewildering.  Pro- 
fessor Rutherford  found  that  a  grain  of  radium  gives 
off  36  billion  helium  atoms  per  second.  A  cubic 
centimeter  of  helium  gas  contains  atoms  to  a  num- 
ber represented  by  this  absurd  row  of  figures: 
2,560,000,000,000,000,000,000— which  is  read,  I  be- 
lieve, two  sextillion,  five  hundred  and  sixty  quintil- 
lion. 

The  weight  of  a  single  atom  is  the  part  of  a  gram 
represented  by  a  fraction  having  one  for  the  numer- 
ator and  for  denominator  68  followed  by  24  ciphers — 
carrying  the  count  to  octillions. 

Of  course  such  figures  convey  little  definite  mean- 
ing. Perhaps  they  serve,  however,  to  give  at  least 
an  inkling  of  the  utterly  incomprehensible  smallness 
of  an  atom.  Reflecting,  then,  that  the  electroscope 
is  able  to  detect  the  presence  of  a  single  one  of  these 
atoms,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  an  instru- 
ment the  delicacy  of  whose  operation  is  little  less 
than  awe-inspiring. 

We  saw  that  the  big  telescopes,  aided  by  the  pho- 
tographic plate,  reveal  stars  to  the  number  of  at 
least  one  hundred  million  lying  utterly  beyond  the 
confines  of  unaided  vision.  Now  it  appears  that  a 
pinch  of  salt  that  one  could  hold  on  the  point  of  a 
penknife  is  made  up  of  atoms  numbering  not  hun- 
dreds of  millions  merely,  but  billions  of  billions.  The 
population  of  atoms  in  the  smallest  particle  of  mat- 

117 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

ter  visible  under  the  microscope  is  greater  by  far 
than  the  total  human  population  of  the  globe  since 
the  race  developed. 

And  a  little  instrument  composed  of  two  fragments 
of  gold  leaf  makes  it  possible  to  perform  the  miracle 
of  counting  these  denizens  of  the  realm  of  infinite 
littleness. 

SEEING  THE  INVISIBLE 

Moreover  there  is  a  second  method,  also  devised 
by  Professor  Rutherford,  by  which  the  helium  atoms 
may  be  counted  as  they  fly  off  in  the  form  of  alpha 
particles  from  radium ;  a  method  that  seems  even 
more  wonderful  than  the  other,  because  of  its  ex- 
treme simplicity  and  the  fact  that  it  depends  upon 
direct  vision. 

The  method  consists  of  watching  through  a  micro- 
scope a  small  portion  of  a  screen  covered  with  a 
compound  of  sulphide  of  zinc  or  willemite.  This 
screen  as  originally  devised  by  Professor  Crookes, 
has  the  property  of  emitting  sparks  of  light  when 
bombarded  by  the  alpha  particles  as  they  fly  off  from 
a  radioactive  substance.  As  ordinarily  witnessed  the 
bombardment  suggests  a  shower  of  shooting  stars; 
or  it  may  be  even  better  likened  to  the  splash  of 
raindrops  on  a  dimly  lighted  pavement.  The  instru- 
ment is  called  a  sphinthariscope. 

Professor  Rutherford  adjusts  a  bit  of  radium  near 
the  screen  in  such  a  way  that  all  the  rays  are  shut 
off  from  it  except  those  passing  through  a  small 
aperture.  He  can  then  through  a  microscope  count 
the  splashes  of  light,  each  of  which  is  'due  to  the 

118 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

impact  of  a  single  alpha  particle.  He  can  thus  esti- 
mate accurately  the  number  of  particles  given  off  by 
a  known  quantity  of  radium  in  a  certain  time  as  be- 
fore. The  result  coincides  with  the  other  method  of 
counting  within  the  limits  of  errors  of  observation. 
Thus  there  is  a  check  on  the  method  of  counting  and 
measuring  the  atoms,  and  we  may  feel  fairly  sure 
that  the  bewildering  result  already  given  represents 
substantially  the  facts. 

Although  this  method  of  counting  the  atoms  de- 
pends upon  direct  vision,  it  must  not  be  inferred  that 
the  observer  actually  sees  the  atom  itself.  What  he 
sees  is  the  commotion  created  among  the  particles 
of  the  sensitized  screen  when  the  atom  dashes  into 
their  midst.  When  you  fire  a  rifle  ball  into  the 
smooth  surface  of  a  lake  half  a  mile  away,  you  see 
the  splash  of  the  water  clearly  enough,  but  of  course 
you  do  not  see  the  rifle  ball  itself.  The  effect  is 
precisely  similar  when  the  splash  of  light  caused  by 
the  alpha  particle  is  viewed. 

The  alpha  particle  itself  is  as  far  beyond  the  range 
of  vision  even  aided  by  the  most  powerful  micro- 
scope, as  a  rifle  ball  would  be  at  the  distance  of  sev- 
eral miles. 

To  give  a  tangible  idea  of  the  hopeless  invisibility 
of  an  atom,  we  may  note  that  the  smallest  particle  of 
matter  visible  under  the  magnifying  influence  of  the 
most  powerful  microscope  is  of  such  dimensions  that 
50,000  such  particles  placed  in  line  would  be  required 
to  extend  across  the  space  of  one  centimeter  (about 
two-fifths  of  an  inch).  If  we  calculate  the  cube  of 
this  number,  we  find  that  125  thousand  billion  such 

119 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

particles  could  be  crowded  into  the  space  of  a  cubic 
centimeter. 

But  Professor  Rutherford's  census  of  the  atoms, 
as  just  outlined,  shows  us  that  twenty  billion  times 
that  number  of  helium  atoms  would  exist  in  the  form 
of  gas  in  the  same  space.  Of  course  the  molecules 
of  a  gas  are  widely  separated.  So  it  follows  that  the 
smallest  particle  of  solid  matter  visible  through  the 
most  powerful  microscope  contains  many  times 
twenty,  billion  atoms. 

PHOTOGRAPHING  THE  ATOM 

In  1910  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson  discovered  yet  another 
method  of  making  individual  atoms  give  visible  evi- 
dence of  their  presence.  The  medium  through  which 
the  record  is  transcribed  is  in  this  case  the  photo- 
graphic plate.  In  a  word,  Professor  Thomson  liter- 
ally photographs  the  atoms.  His  method  of  letting 
the  atom  transcribe  its  own  record  on  the  sensitive 
plate  is  by  far  the  most  delicate  method  yet  devised 
of  analyzing  the  constituents  of  a  gas. 

The  gases  to  be  tested  are  introduced  in  exceed- 
ingly small  quantities  into  a  glass  bulb  which  is 
called  a  vacuum  bulb  because  it  is  supposed  to  con- 
tain nothing  at  all.  When  an  electric  current  is 
passed  through  this  vacuum,  the  bulb  glows  with  a 
peculiar  phosphorescence,  and  the  now  familiar 
phenomena  of  the  cathode  ray  are  manifested.  The 
cathode  ray,  as  we  have  seen,  consists  of  negative 
particles  of  electricity.  It  has  now  been  shown  that 
particles  of  another  type  traverse  the  tube  in  the 
opposite  direction  to  that  in  which  the  cathode  par- 

I2O 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

tides  are  streaming.  A  perforation  being  made  in 
the  electric  cathode,  these  retrograde  particles  pass 
through  the  aperture  and  impinge  on  the  glass  bulb 
back  of  the  cathode.  Because  of  the  method  in 
which  they  are  tested  these  rays  have  been  called 
"canal  rays"  by  the  German  physicist  Goldstein  who 
first  observed  them.  . 

Sir  Joseph  Thomson  tested  these  rays  by  subject- 
ing them  to  the  simultaneous  influence  of  an  electric 
current  and  a  magnetic  field.  Electricity  deflects 
them  in  one  direction  and  magnetism  in  another,  so 
that  as  a  result  they  are  diverted  from  their  direct 
path  and  assume  an  elliptical  orbit.  The  record  of 
their  divergent  flight  is  instantaneously  impressed 
on  a  photographic  plate. 

To  casual  observation  the  photograph  suggests  a 
shower  of  shooting  stars  or  tiny  comets,  or  in  some 
cases  an  auroral  display.  But  Sir  Joseph  Thomson 
has  been  able  to  demonstrate  that  each  streak  of 
light  represents  the  flight  of  a  particular  type  of 
atom,  and  that  different  atoms  are  deflected  in  de- 
grees precisely  dependent  upon  their  atomic  weight. 
The  hydrogen  atom,  for  example,  being  very  light, 
is  deflected  more  than  the  helium  atom,  and  this  in 
turn  is  deflected  more  than  the  still  heavier  atom  of 
oxygen. 

So  here  again  the  individual  atoms  are  made  to 
record  their  presence. 

The  method  has  great  interest  for  the  chemist  be- 
cause it  enables  him  to  detect  the  presence  of  quan- 
tities of  a  foreign  gas  too  minute  to  be  indicated  by 
the  spectroscope.  The  rays  are  registered  within 

9  121 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

less  than  a  millionth  of  a  second  after  their  forma- 
tion, and  Sir  Joseph  Thomson  suggests  that  when 
chemical  combination  or  decomposition  is  occurring 
in  the  tube  the  method  may  disclose  the  existence 
of  intermediate  forms  which  have  only  a  transient 
existence. 

Already  it  has  been  shown  that  even  an  elementary 
gas  may  consist  of  a  mixture  of  a  great  many  differ- 
ent substances.  In  the  case  of  oxygen,  the  photo- 
graphs reveal  no  fewer  than  eight  different  forms 
of  atoms  and  molecules,  ranging  from  individual 
neutral  atoms  of  oxygen  to  molecules  composed  of 
six  atoms  with  a  positive  charge  of  electricity. 

Thus  the  physicist  not  only  photographs  the 
atoms,  but  records  their  intimate  transformations 
and  combinations. 

THE  NEW  ALCHEMY 

All  this  is  startling  enough.  But  there  are  experi- 
menters who  believe  that  an  even  more  wonderful 
kind  of  atom-juggling  lies  within  the  possibilities  of 
the  near  future.  Announcement  made  in  London 
early  in  1913  seemed  to  foreshadow  the  solution  of 
the  old  problem  of  the  alchemist — the  production  of 
gold  in  the  laboratory.  The  paper  which  aroused 
these  more  or  less  visionary  expectations  was  given 
jointly  by  Sir  William  Ramsay  and  Professors  Nor- 
man Collie  and  H.  Patterson  before  the  Chemical 
Society  of  London  at  the  meeting  of  February  6th, 
1913. 

Professor  Ramsay  spoke  by  way  of  introduction, 
and  told  of  the  finding  of  helium  in  a  bulb  which 

122 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

previously  had  contained  only  hydrogen,  through 
which  an  electric  current  had  been  discharged. 
Professors  ~Collie  and  Patterson  told  of  the  discovery, 
of  the  gas  neon  under  like  circumstances.  The  repu- 
tation of  the  investigators  justifies  the  belief  that  all 
sources  of  experimental  errors  were  excluded,  and 
that  a  certain  portion  of  the  gases  helium  and  neon 
actually  made  its  appearance  in  a  bulb  which  at  the 
beginning  of  the;  experiment  had  contained  only, 
hydrogen. 

This  experiment  seems  by  no  means  so  startling 
as  it  would  have  seemed  a  few  years  ago.  The  phe- 
nomena of  radioactivity  have  made  us  familiar  with 
the  transmutation  of  one  substance  into  another.  In 
particular  it  has  been  demonstrated,  as  we  have  seen, 
that  the  alpha  particles  which  fly  off  incessantly 
from  radium  and  various  other  radioactive  sub- 
stances are  in  reality  molecules  of  helium,  each  con- 
veying a  double  charge  of  positive  electricity.  So 
the  appearance  of  the  element  helium  as  the  by- 
product of  another  element  is  a  phenomenon  already 
clearly  established. 

But  the  peculiar  significance  of  the  new  experi- 
ments just  reported  is  this:  the  new  substances  are 
made  to  appear  in  the  tube  without  the  presence  of 
any  radioactive  substance,  and  at  the  will  of  the 
operator,  through  the  use  of  the  electric  current. 
What  is  still  more  remarkable,  however,  is  the  fact 
that  helium  and  neon  are  both  of  higher  atomic 
weight  than  the  hydrogen  in  the  midst  of  which  they 
appear.  Specifically  the  weight  of  hydrogen  is 
placed  at  unity,  whereas  helium  is  four  times  as 

123 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

heavy,  and  neon  twenty  times  as  heavy.  At  first 
glance,  therefore,  it  would  appear  that  the  experi- 
menters have  been  able,  with  the  use  of  the  electric 
current,  either  to  cause  hydrogen  atoms  to  combine 
to  produce  heavier  substances,  or  else  have  actually 
built  up  new  elements  out  of  electrons;  or  at  the 
very  least  have  caused  helium  to  combine  with  oxy- 
gen from  the  glass  walls  of  the  bulb  to  form  neon. 

This  would  be  a  very  wonderful  transformation 
indeed,  but  it  chances  that  the  phenomena  are  sus- 
ceptible of  much  less  startling  interpretation.  Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson,  the  foremost  authority  on  the  subject, 
suggests  that  what  has  actually  taken  place  is  the 
jdriving  out  by  the  passage  of  the  electric  current  of 
a  certain  number  of  molecules  of  helium  and  neon 
that  were  occluded  in  the  platinum  of  the  electrode. 
Professor  Thomson  had  himself  observed  the  pro- 
duction under  similar  circumstances  of  a  new  sub- 
stance apparently  having  the  atomic  weight  three, 
which  could  be  explained  either  as  a  new  element  or 
as  a  new  type  of  molecule  composed  of  three  hydro- 
gen atoms.  The  possibility  of  the  occlusion  of  alien 
molecules  between  the  molecules  of  metals  is  fairly 
established. 

Meantime,  however,  the  possibility  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  the  elements  neon  and  helium  were 
actually  driven  out  from  the  atomic  substance  of  the 
plantinum  electrode,  or  of  the  glass  walls  of  the  bulb, 
and  if  such  were  indeed  the  fact  the  experiment 
would  have  the  very  greatest  importance.  It  would 
be  demonstrated  that  it  is  possible  by  a  means  avail- 
able in  the  laboratory  to  disrupt  the  atoms  of  a  non- 
124 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

radioactive  substance.  And  this  would  clearly  sug- 
gest the  possibility  that  a  means  may  ultimately  be 
found  to  disrupt  any  and  all  of  the  elementary  atoms. 

It  is  an  observed  fact  that  the  spontaneous  disrup- 
tion of  the  atoms  of  the  very  heavy  substance 
uranium,  through  the  throwing  off  of  helium  atoms, 
results  in  due  course  in  so  lessening  the  weight  of 
the  uranium  molecule  that  it  becomes  a  molecule  of 
radium,  and  this  in  turn  undergoes  successive  trans- 
formations associated  with  the  throwing  out  of  the 
helium  atoms,  leading,  it  is  believed,  to  an  end 
product  that  is  the  familiar  substance  lead.  This 
substance  shows  no  tendency  to  continue  the  process 
of  disruption.  But  if  an  artificial  means  could  be 
found  to  cause  the  atom  of  lead  to  throw  out  two 
helium  atoms,  we  should  have  its  weight  reduced 
substantially  to  that  of  the  atom  of  gold. 

These  are  the  facts  which  justify  Sir  William  Ram- 
say in  declaring  that  it  seems  within  the  possibilities 
that  we  shall  ultimately  be  able  to  transform  lead  into 
gold.  If  Professors  Collie  and  Patterson  have  ac- 
complished what  their  more  sanguine  critics  think 
they  have  accomplished,  we  are  clearly  one  step 
nearer  to  this  alchemistic  miracle.  In  any  event,  the 
new  knowledge  that  observation  of  the  radioactive 
substances  has  given  us,  puts  the  possibility  of  such 
a  transmutation  of  metals  on  an  entirely  new  scien- 
tific footing.  What  the  atomic  chemistry  of  the 
nineteenth  century  seemed  to  prove  impossible 
seems  now  to  lie  well  within  the  bounds  of  credi- 
bility,— though  doubtless  still  far  enough  from  actual 
accomplishment. 

125 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

THE  SMALLEST  THING  IN  THE  WORLD 

We  have  seen  that  the  atoms  which  thus  give  up 
their  secrets  to  the  photographic  plate  are  billions 
of  times  smaller  than  the  smallest  particle  of  matter 
that  is  directly  visible  under  the  microscope.  It 
would  seem,  then,  as  if  this  recent  feat  of  Sir  Joseph 
Thomson,  together  with  the  spectacular  demonstra- 
tions of  Professor  Rutherford,  must  carry  us  into  the 
realm  of  the  invisible  almost  to  the  limits  of  imag- 
inable minuteness.  But  in  point  of  fact  there 
remains  one  other  step  that  the  physical  investiga- 
tors of  our  time  have  been  able  to  take  which  would 
still  further  tax  credulity  were  it  not  certain  that  the 
things  recorded  are  the  results  of  definite  experi- 
mentation and  not  of  mere  day-dreaming. 

The  final  feat  of  analysis  to  which  I  now  refer  is 
that  which  demonstrates  that  within  the  smallest 
atom  there  is  a  something  almost  two  thousand  times 
smaller  than  the  atom  itself, — a  something  that  is 
detachable  from  the  atom  and  susceptible  of  being 
measured  as  to  its  mass  and  tested  as  to  its  electric 
charge  with  the  aid  of  the  apparatus  of  the  laboratory. 

This  ultimate  particle  of  matter  is  called  the  elec- 
tric corpuscle  or  electron.  We  owe  our  knowledge 
of  it  chiefly  to  Sir  Joseph  J.  Thomson,  of  Cambridge 
University,  England.  It  is  the  smallest  thing  in  the 
world;  and  it  is  probably  the  basal  substance  out  of 
which  all  matter  of  whatever  character  is  built.  Our 
present  view  of  it  must  be  confined  to  a  brief  refer- 
ence to  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  weighed  and 
measured. 

126 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

The  electron  was  first  revealed  in  the  cathode  ray 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  generated  in  a  vacuum 
tube  when  electricity  passes  through  it.  The  cathode 
ray,  as  such,  consists  of  a  stream  of  electrons  driven 
off  from  the  negative  pole  or  cathode.  The  fact  that 
these  particles  are  deflected  by  an  electric  current 
shows  that  they  are  tangible  substances,  and  the 
amount  of  deflection  with  a  given  current  makes  it 
possible  to  compute  the  charge  of  electricity  they 
carry. 

The  electron  appears  again  as  the  constituent  of 
the  so-called  beta  ray  given  off  by  a  radioactive  sub- 
stance. Electrons  may  also  be  liberated  from  ordi- 
nary matter,  when  any  substance  is  heated  to  a  very 
high  degree,  or  when  rays  of  ultra-violet  light  im- 
pinge on  a  metal  at  ordinary  temperature.  .Yet  again 
they  appear  in  ordinary  gases  when  a  heavy  charge 
of  electricity  is  forced  through  the  gas, — say  a  light- 
ning stroke.  They  are  likewise  liberated  in  a  gas 
subjected  to  the  X-ray  or  to  the  so-called  gamma  ray, 
of  radium. 

It  required  a  vast  deal  of  experimenting  to  show 
that  the  electrified  particles  which  appear  under 
these  diverse  circumstances  are  in  reality  one  and 
the  same  thing.  The  demonstration  was  made,  how- 
ever, and  several  means  were  found  of  testing  the 
quantity  of  electricity  which  the  particle  carries  and 
even  of  counting  the  particles  themselves. 

The  simplest  method  of  counting  the  particles  is 
by  passing  the  X-ray  through  a  portion  of  air,  and 
then  allowing  the  air  to  expand  in  a  receptacle.  Ex- 
pansion cools  the  air  and  causes  the  deposit  of  drop- 

127 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

lets  of  water — in  effect  miniature  dew  drops — upon 
the  electrons.  The  particles  of  water  thus  formed 
constitute  a  fog  which  begins  to  settle  toward  the 
bottom  of  the  receptacle.  The  rate  at  which  the 
particles  settle  can  be  determined  by  direct  observa- 
tion of  the  upper  surface  of  the  fog. 

Heavy  substances,  as  everybody  knows,  fall  under 
influence  of  gravity  at  a  fixed  rate,  regardless  of  size 
or  weight.  But  minute  particles,  on  the  other  hand, 
make  their  way  downward  through  the  atmosphere 
at  a  rate  that  varies  with  their  size  in  accordance  with 
a  law  named  Stokes*  law  after  its  discoverer.  This 
direct  observation  of  the  rate  of  settling  of  the  par- 
ticles of  water  condensed  on  the  electron  gives  the 
size  of  the  particles.  Another  computation  shows 
the  total  amount  of  condensed  vapor,  so  a  simple 
division  gives  us  the  number  of  the  droplets  and 
hence  of  the  electrons. 

Then  the  total  charge  of  electricity  carried  by  all 
the  electrons  can  readily  be  measured  with  the  elec- 
trometer, and  again  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  divide 
this  quantity  by  the  number  of  electrons  to  find  the 
quantity  of  electricity  which  each  conveys. 

The  experiment  shows  that  the  unit  charge  of 
electricity  carried  by  the  electron  is  always  the  same. 
Professor  R.  A.  Millikan,  of  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago, has  recently  confirmed  this  by  a  series  of  in- 
genious experiments,  in  which  he  isolates  a  droplet 
of  oil  and  observes  it  through  a  miniature  telescope 
while  it  takes  up  one  or  more  electrons  from  the  air. 
His  experiments  permit  him  not  only  to  measure 
accurately  the  electric  charge  of  an  electron,  but  to 

128 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

deduce  the  number  of  molecules  in  any  substance, 
the  force  of  molecular  energy,  and  the  weight  of  the 
atom. 

The  experiments  show  further  that  the  total  mass 
of  the  electron  is  due  to  its  electric  charge.  Stated 
otherwise,  the  electron  it  not  merely  a  unit  particle 
of  electricity, — it  is  nothing  but  electricity.  It  is  not 
matter  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word.  It  is  a 
center  of  force,  a  concentration  of  energy,  and  may 
perhaps  be  thought  of  as  a  little  whirl  in  the  ether. 
It  carries  energy  in  a  perfectly  definite  quantity,  and 
must  be  thought  of  as  occupying  a  definite  position 
in  space  and  having  what  might  be  called  an  atomic 
structure. 

But  the  amazing  thing  is  that  its  mass  is  found 
to  be  about  1700  times  smaller  than  the  mass  of  the 
hydrogen  atom  which  had  hitherto  been  the  smallest 
thing  of  which  the  imagination  of  men  of  science  had 
taken  cognizance. 

We  have  already  reviewed  mystifying  rows  of 
figures  showing  us  that  the  helium  atom  is  trillions 
of  times  smaller  than  the  smallest  particle  visible 
under  the  microscope.  Yet  we  know  that  this  helium 
atom  is  four  times  as  large  as  the  atom  of  hydrogen. 
And  now  it  appears  that  the  electron  is  1700  times 
smaller  still.  It  taxes  the  imagination  to  conceive 
even  in  the  vaguest  way  the  all  but  infinite  littleness 
of  the  helium  atom;  yet  to  build  up  the  structure  of 
one  such  atom,  judged  by  standards  of  mass,  would 
require  almost  7000  electrons. 

As  regards  bulk,  the  electron  is,  according  to  the 
French  physicist,  Jean  Becquerel,  billions  of  billions 

129 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

of  times  smaller  than  the  atom.  To  make  the  com- 
parison vivid,  Becquerel  likens  the  electrons  in  an 
atom  to  a  swarm  of  gnats  gravitating  about  in  the 
dome  of  a  cathedral. 

THE  STRUCTURE  OF  THE  ATOM 

Some  imaginative  physicists  think  of  the  electrons 
as  making  up  planetary  systems  within  the  atom,  and 
as  circling  about  with  infinite  speeds  in  orbits  differ- 
ing only  in  their  infinitesimal  smallness  from  the 
orbits  of  planets  and  stars  of  the  visible  universe. 
Other  physicists  caution  us  against  drawing  too  close 
analogies  between  the  stellar  and  atomic  systems. 
But  all  are  agreed  that  the  activities  of  the  electron, 
whether  thought  of  as  orbital  or  as  vibratory,  are 
enormous. 

Sir  J.  J.  Thomson  estimates  that  an  electron  once 
dislodged  from  its  atomic  system,  may  dash  hither 
and  thither  from  one  atom  to  another  at  such  speed 
as  to  change  its  location  forty  million  times  in  a 
second. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  demonstration  seems  com- 
plete that  the  activities  of  the  electron  and  these 
alone  produce  the  manifestations  of  energy  which 
we  interpret  as  light,  radiant  heat,  and  electricity. 
All  chemical  action  is  likewise  held  to  be  due  to  the 
activities  of  the  electron.  It  is  suspected  that  gravi- 
tation is  of  the  same  origin. 

The  electron  which  thus  seems  to  be  responsible 
for  all  manifestations  of  energy,  is  regarded  by  many 
physicists  as  the  sole  constituent  of  matter.  Dif- 
ferent kinds  of  atoms,  in  this  view,  differ  from  one 

130 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

another  only  in  the  varying  number  or  diverse  ar- 
rangement of  their  component  electrons. 

This  extreme  view  is  perhaps  hardly  justified;  but 
on  the  other  hand  it  appears  to  be  established  that 
electrons  are  associated  with  every  kind  of  matter, 
and  there  is  good  reason  to  think  that  an  electric 
current  consists  essentially  of  a  flight  of  electrons 
along  a  conductor.  Incandescent  metals  and  metals 
treated  with  ultra-violet  light  give  out  electrons. 
Professor  B.  W.  Richardson,  of  Princeton  Uni- 
versity, in  recent  experiments  with  filaments  of  the 
metal  tungsten  at  high  temperatures  in  a  vacuum, 
has  proved  that  the  emission  of  electrons  may  be  a 
physical  rather  than  a  chemical  process,  and  that  the 
electrons  actually  flow  into  the  tungsten  filament, 
along  electrical  conductors,  from  outside  the  vacuum 
bulb.  He  has  thus  furnished  what  is  regarded  as  di- 
rect experimental  proof  of  the  electron  theory  of 
conduction  in  metals. 

It  seems  speaking  well  within  bounds,  therefore, 
to  say  that  this  inconceivably  minute  particle,  which 
is  far  and  away  the  smallest  thing  of  which  present- 
day  science  has  any  positive  knowledge,  is  at  the 
same  time  far  and  away  the  most  important  thing 
in  the  universe. 

THE  ALL-PERVADING  ETHER 

As  we  penetrate  thus  far  and  farther  into  the  realm 
of  the  infinitely  little,  seeing  in  imagination  the 
smallest  visible  particle  of  matter  resolved  into 
myriads  of  molecules;  each  molecule  into  sundry 
atoms;  and  each  atom  into  its  teeming  swarms  of 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

electrons,   the   question   naturally   arises,   What   lies 
beyond? 

The  answer  is  that,  so  far  as  present-clay  science 
knows,  the  electron  is  the  last  term  of  the  series. 
As  the  mind  cannot  grasp  the  conception  of  empty 
space,  physicists  imagine  an  all-pervading  ether, 
permeating  everywhere  between  the  particles  of 
matter,  and  serving  as  the  medium  of  communica- 
tion whereby  energy  is  transmitted  from  one  particle 
of  matter  to  another  throughout  the  universe.  Light, 
electricity,  magnetism,  radiant  heat,  are  various 
manifestations  of  energy  transmitted,  so  it  is  be- 
lieved, in  the  form  of  waves  in  the  ether. 

This  ether,  as  the  physicist  conceives  it,  has 
neither  weight  nor  discrete  substance.  It  is  the 
unique  all-pervading  something  that  is  neither  en- 
ergy nor  matter.  Its  importance  from  a  human  stand- 
point may  be  summarized  in  the  statement  that  but 
for  the  ether  neither  light  nor  heat  would  come  to 
us  from  the  sun. 

When  we  reflect  that  the  ether  is  supposed  to  pene- 
trate everywhere  between  the  particles  of  matter, 
and  that  material  substances,  so  far  as  experiment 
goes,  move  through  the  ether  without  being  in  the 
remotest  degree  obstructed,  it  will  be  obvious  that 
this  all-pervading  medium  is  an  ever-present  mys- 
tery. It  has  been  a  puzzle  to  surmise  how  the  par- 
ticles of  matter  could  produce  waves  in  a  medium 
which  seemed  in  no  wise  to  obstruct  the  activities 
of  these  particles. 

But  now  it  appears  that  the  link  between  the 
structureless  ether  and  matter  with  its  atomic  struc- 

132 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

ture  is  found  in  the  electron.  This  infinitesimal  par- 
ticle, according  to  the  theory  of  Sir  Joseph  Thomson, 
grips  the  ether  somewhat  as  material  substances 
grip  the  air,  and  its  activities  set  up  waves  in  the 
ether  that  are  as  tangible  as  the  waves  that  radiate 
out  from  a  pebble  dropped  into  the  smooth  surface 
of  a  pond. 

The  ether  waves  set  up  by  the  electron  vary  in 
length  or  degree  of  agitation.  But  they  move 
through  space  at  a  uniform  rate  of  speed  which  has 
been  demonstrated  to  be  about  186,000  miles  per 
second.  Waves  of  a  certain  degree  of  agitation  we 
interpret  as  heat;  waves  of  another  order  we  inter- 
pret as  light — red  light  or  green  or  yellow  or  blue 
or  violet,  accordingly  as  the  waves  are  longer  or 
shorter.  Still  shorter  waves  produce  ultra-violet 
light,  which  affects  the  photographic  plate,  but  is 
invisible  to  the  eye.  Waves  of  yet  another  order — 
excessively  long  waves,  namely — constitute  electro- 
magnetic currents,  such  as  are  used  in  wireless 
telegraphy. 

But,  according  to  the  view  of  present-day  physics, 
no  one  of  these  sets  of  waves  would  agitate  the 
ether  were  it  not  for  the  activities  of  the  electrons 
which,  grouped  in  various  fashions,  are  hurtling 
hither  and  thither  within  the  structure  of  every  atom 
of  matter,  or  are  dashing  at  break-neck  speed  from 
one  atom  to  another. 

It  remains  to  be  said,  however,  that  there  has 
been  a  tendency  in  very  recent  years  to  challenge 
the  wave  theory  of  light  notwithstanding  the  seem- 
ingly secure  position  it  has  held*  for  the  better  part 

133 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

of  a  century,  and  to  question  whether  the  mani- 
festations that  have  in  recent  generations  been  in- 
terpreted as  undulations  in  the  ether  may  not  be 
susceptible  of  another  interpretation  more  in  keep- 
ing with  the  old  idea  of  Newton  that  light  really 
consists  of  infinitesimal  particles  hurtling  through 
space.  This  reactionary  conception,  which  as  yet  is 
only  vaguely  formulated,  is  obviously  in  keeping  with 
the  studies  that  have  carried  us  from  the  molecule 
to  the  atom  and  from  the  atom  to  the  electron;  the 
conception,  in  short,  which  tends  to  visualize  all  mat- 
ter, and  even  energy  itself,  as  in  the  last  analysis 
corpuscular  in  character.  Even  the  all-pervading 
ether  has  been  brought  within  the  scope  of  this  con- 
ception by  the  newest  theories,  as  will  appear  in  a 
moment.  We  may  well  complete  our  survey  of  the 
world  of  the  infinitely  little  by  passing  on  to  a  brief 
examination  of  the  newest  theories  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  ether;  which  theories,  as  will  appear,  involve 
also  an  attempt  of  an  even  more  fundamental  char- 
acter than  any  hitherto  suggested  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem of  the  ultimate  nature  of  matter  itself  and  of  the 
perennial  mystery  of  that  hitherto  inexplicable  force 
which  is  observed  to  operate  everywhere  and  always 
between  the  particles  of  matter  and  to  which  we  give 
*he  name  of  gravitation. 

FROM  MICROCOSM  TO  MACROCOSM 

In  attempting  to  follow  this  newest  exploration  of 
theoretical  physics  we  are  confronted  by  an  astound- 
ing paradox.  This  is  nothing  less  than  the  assurance 
that  what  we  call  matter  is  really  the  least  substan- 

134 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

tial  thing  in  the  universe,  and  that  what  we  are 
accustomed  to  think  of  as  the  absolutely  immaterial 
ether  is  in  truth  a  structure  of  enormous  density. 
,Yet  this  conclusion  is  arrived  at  along  different  lines 
of  reasoning,  and  it  is  one  upon  which  the  most 
authoritative  physicists  are  agreed. 

Thus  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson  assures  us  that  the  unit 
particle  of  electricity,  called  a  corpuscle  or  electron, 
owes  its  mass  entirely  to  an  infinitesimal  quantity  of 
ether  which  is  in  some  way  bound  up  with  its  sub- 
stance; and  as  all  matter,  in  his  view,  is  supposed  to 
be  built  up  of  electrons,  it  follows  that  "all  mass  is 
mass  of  the  ether,  all  momentum  momentum  of  the 
ether,  and  all  kinetic  energy  kinetic  energy  of  the 
ether."  Professor  Thomson  then  goes  on  to  assure 
us  that  "since  we  know  the  volume  of  the  corpuscle 
as  well  as  the  mass,  we  can  calculate  the  density  of 
the  ether  attached  to  the  corpuscle ;  doing  so  we  find 
it  amounts  to  the  prodigious  value  of  about  2,000,- 
000,000  times  that  of  lead."  He  adds,  however,  that 
this  would  be  the  density  of  the  ether  only  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  electron  or  corpuscle  and 
that  its  density  elsewhere  in  space  would  be  consider- 
ably less,  if  the  ether  is  compressible. 

To  make  somewhat  comprehensible  the  paradox 
that  matter  as  we  know  it  is  able  to  move  freely  in 
a  medium  of  such  density,  Sir  Joseph  Thomson  gives 
us  this  illustration:  "Although  at  first  sight  the  idea 
that  we  are  immersed  in  a  medium  almost  infinitely 
denser  than  lead  might  seem  inconceivable,  it  is  not 
so  if  we  remember  that  in  all  probability  matter  is 
composed  mainly  of  holes.  We  may  in  fact  regard 

135 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

matter  as  possessing  a  bird-cage  kind  of  structure  in 
which  the  volume  of  the  ether  disturbed  by  the  wires 
when  the  structure  is  moved  is  infinitesimal  in  com- 
parison with  the  volume  enclosed  by  them.  If  we 
do  this  no  difficulty  arises  from  the  great  density  of 
the  ether.  All  we  have  to  do  is  to  increase  the  dis- 
tance between  the  wires  in  proportion  as  we  increase 
the  density  of  the  ether." 

It  undoubtedly  puts  a  strain  upon  the  ordinary  im- 
agination to  conceive  of  the  existence  of  this  all-per- 
vading medium  which  gives  to  our  senses  no  evidence 
of  its  existence.  But  the  paradox  becomes  still  more 
startling  when  we  turn  to  the  newest  theory  as  to  the 
exact  nature  of  this  etherial  medium.  This  is  the 
theory  elaborated  by  the  late  Professor  Osborne 
Reynolds,  of  Owens  College,  Manchester,  England, 
which  has  recently  been  called  to  the  attention  of  the 
American  public  through  an  interpretation  given  by 
Professor  John  Mackenzie,  of  Minneapolis.  Accord- 
ing to  this  theory,  which  is  supported  by  a  mass  of 
mathematical  reasoning  which  the  average  reader 
must  take  on  trust,  the  ether  is  composed  of  spheri- 
cal granules  of  such  infinitely  small  size  that  700,- 
000,000,000  of  them  placed  in  line  could  lie  in  the 
trough  of  a  single  wave  of  violet  light ;  said  wave  of 
light  being  about  the  one-seven-thousandth  part  of 
an  inch  in  length.  These  granules,  according  to  Pro- 
fessor Reynolds'  theory,  are  the  ultimate  or 
primordial  atoms,  perfectly  spherical,  and  absolutely 
rigid.  They  are  almost  infinitely  small  as  compared 
even  with  the  size  of  the  electron,  which  we  have 
seen  to  be  almost  infinitely  small  in  comparison  with 

136 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

the  atom.  And  the  atom,  it  will  be  recalled,  was  until 
recently  supposed  to  be  the  smallest  thing  in  the  uni- 
verse. 

But  all  recent  research  has  seemed  to  suggest  that 
objects  in  nature  become  important  in  a  progressive 
ratio  as  they  become  smaller.  This  rule  of  thumb 
applies  with  full  force  to  Professor  Reynolds' 
primordial  granule.  For  according  to  his  theory  the 
entire  material  universe  as  we  know  it — that  is  to 
say  the  entire  universe  of  matter — consists  essential- 
ly of  little  maladjustments  or  flaws  in  the  universal 
granular  ether!  In  this  view,  what  we  call  matter 
is  not  the  substantial  but  the  unsubstantial  part  of 
the  universe.  Like  Sir  Joseph  Thomson,  Professor 
Reynolds  calculates  that  the  all-pervading  ether  is 
vastly  more  dense  than  any  material  substance, — his 
calculation  makes  it  480  times  denser  than  platinum, 
— and  he  likens  matter  to  bubbles  in  this  dense  me- 
dium. Professor  Mackenzie  has  this  to  say  by  way  of 
interpretation  of  this  paradox: 

"You  have  all  seen  bubbles  moving  in  water.  Rey- 
nolds shows  that  the  earth  and  all  other  material 
bodies  move  through  space  in  a  similar  manner. 
They  are  less  dense  than  the  medium  in  which  they 
exist,  and  their  movements  are  due  to  differences  of 
pressure  in  the  surrounding  medium.  They  are  like 
so  many  filmy  soap  bubbles  which  a  child  blows  from 
the  stem  of  a  pipe.  Real  mass  is  not  in  the  material 
things  which  we  see,  but  in  space  where  the  eye  sees 
nothing.  The  sober  conclusion  of  the  most  advanced 
dynamical  science  is  that  matter  is  a  negative  thing 
so  far  as  its  mass  is  concerned,  and  that  the  space 

10 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

occupied  by  'matter'  contains  very  much  less  than 
the  space  where  no  'matter*  exists." 

I  shall  not  attempt  here  to  detail  the  reasoning  by 
which  this  paradoxical  view  is  sustained  and  made 
to  seem  plausible.  Suffice  it  that  spherical  .bodies  of 
tangible  size,  say  shot  or  marbles,  can  be  piled  to- 
gether in  various  ways,  and  that  accordingly  as  they 
are  piled  in  so-called  dilated  or  in  close  order,  they 
occupy  more  or  less  space.  From  the  experiments 
with  such  tangible  spheres,  it  is  shown  that  a  shift 
in  the  mutual  positions  of  the  hypothetical  granules 
making  up  the  ether  will  account  theoretically  for 
the  production  of  rifts  or  bubbles  which  our  crude 
senses  interpret  as  solid  matter,  and  that  an  exten- 
sion of  the  same  reasoning  makes  possible  an  ex- 
planation of  the  world-old  mystery  of  gravitation 
itself. 

The  observations  that  led  Reynolds  to  his  explana- 
tion of  gravitation  are  based  on  tests  made  with 
masses  of  small  granules,  such  as  shot  or  sand  grains, 
and  have  to  do  with  the  phenomenon  which  Reynolds 
describes  as  dilatancy.  This  "consists  in  a  definite 
change  of  bulk,  whenever  there  is  a  definite  change 
of  shape  or  distortional  strain,  any  disturbances  what- 
ever causing  a  change  of  volume  and  general  .dila- 
tion." 

Professor  Mackenzie  illustrates  the  meaning  of  ; 
this  by  saying  that  when  shot  or  sand  or  other 
spherical  grains  are  put  into  a  bag  or  other  closed 
surface  and  shaken,  they  settle  into  a  very  close 
position,  in  which  the  spaces  or  interstices  between 
the  grains  are  about  the  smallest  possible.  This 

138 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

would  be  described  by  Reynolds  as  "normal  piling," 
and  in  such  a  case  the  "bag  containing  the  shot  or 
grains  can  not  be  changed  without  at  the  same  time 
changing  its  bulk  or  volume,  because  if  you  shift  the 
mutual  relations  of  the  shot,  they  roll  into  such 
positions  as  to  increase  the  interstices  between  them. 

Interesting  experiments  are  shown  by  Professor 
Mackenzie,  in  which  a  bag  filled  with  sand  and  water 
has  inserted  into  it  a  brass  tube  connecting  with  a 
mercury  pressure  guage  and  on  the  other  side  of 
the  bag  a  connection  with  a  rubber  tube  leading  to  a 
glass  tube  rilled  with  colored  water.  When  a  pres- 
sure of  200  pounds  is  applied  to  the  sides  of  the  bag, 
the  mercury  guage  shows  that  notwithstanding  the 
great  pressure  on  the  outside  of  the  bag,  the  pressure 
inside  the  bag  is  reduced.  The  same  thing  is  proved 
in  another  way  by  closing  the  pressure  guage  and 
opening  the  valve  in  a  rubber  tube  which  connects 
the  bag  with  the  glass  tube  filled  with  colored  water. 
When  pressure  is  applied  to  the  bag  as  before,  the 
colored  water  falls  in  the  glass  tube  and  passes  into 
the  bag  until  nearly  a  pint  has  been  drawn  in.  "One 
would  think/'  says  Professor  Mackenzie,  "that  the 
pressure  on  the  outside  of  the  bag  would  squeeze 
anything  that  was  in  the  bag  out  of  it,  but  these 
experiments  show  that  the  reverse  is  actually  the 
case,  due  to  the  dilation  of  the  granular  medium/' 

Practical  experiments  such  as  this  put  Reynolds 
on  the  track  of  his  explanation  of  the  cause  of  gravi- 
tation. He  argued  that  if  the  ether,  consisting  of 
infinitesimal  granules  in  normal  piling,  extends  in- 
definitely in  the  universe,  there  can  be  no  mean  motion 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

of  the  boundaries  whatever  the  pressure  may  be  at 
any  part  of  the  structure.  The  grains  are  virtually 
within  a  closed  surface.  Any  change  in  the  piling  of 
their  granules,  then,  must  result  in  increasing  the 
spaces  or  interstices  between  the  granules,  just  as 
in  the  case  of  the  sand  bag.  And  it  is  these  spaces, 
which  in  Professor  Mackenzie's  experiment  were 
filled  with  colored  water  drawn  into  the  bag,  which 
in  the  mass  of  ether  granules  constitute  fissures,  or, 
in  Reynolds'  words,  "singular  surfaces  of  misfit."  In 
everyday  terminology  these  are  particles  of  matter. 
Such  particles  or  gaps  form  "surfaces  of  weakness," 
and  it  is  shown  that  the  pressure  of  the  medium  is 
less  between  those  "negative  inequalities"  or  surfaces 
of  weakness  than  it  is  on  the  outside.  There  is  a 
strain  set  up  in  the  granular  medium  which  produces 
a  curvature  in  the  normal  piling.  And  it  is  this 
"strained  normal  piling"  that  produces  pressure 
which  we  interpret  as  gravitation. 

"Strained  normal  piling,"  says  Reynolds,  "implies 
that,  although  the  shape  of  the  medium  is  strained, 
so  that  the  distances  of  the  grains  from  their  twelve 
neighbors  [each  spherical  granule  is  in  contact  with 
twelve  others]  are  no  longer  equal — since  the  suc- 
cessive layers  of  grain  in  the  normal  piling  instead 
of  being  flat  are  subject  to  slight  spherical  curvature 
— the  strains  are  such  as  do  not  allow  any  change  of 
neighbors;  so  that  when  the  strain  is  removed  each 
grain  will  find  itself  in  normal  piling  with  the  same 
neighbors." 

It  is  because  of  this  curvature  in  the  medium  that 
the  pressure  is  Jess  between  the  "fissi;res"  that  con- 
HP 


EXPLORING    THE    ATOM 

stitute  matter  than  it  is  in  the  medium  outside,  and 
hence  that  the  fissures  or  particles  of  matter  are 
pressed  toward  one  another, — such  pressure  con- 
stituting what  is  commonly  known  as  the  attraction 
of  gravitation. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  theory  conceives  two 
kinds  of  strain  in  the  granular  medium,  one  produc- 
ing fissures  that  constitute  matter,  and  the  other  a 
maladjustment  that  results  in  pushing  the  fissures 
toward  one  another.  The  entire  subject  is  too  ab- 
struse to  be  clearly  grasped  as  to  its  details  without 
much  study,  but  the  general  fact  of  a  mechanical 
interpretation  of  the  structure  of  the  universe  and  of 
the  mystery  of  gravitation, — and,  it  may  be  added,  of 
electricity  and  magnetism  as  well, — gives  Professor 
Reynolds'  theory  a  high  degree  of  interest  and  im- 
portance. But  of  course  it  must  be  recalled  that  this 
interpretation  of  the  nature  of  the  ether  is  as  yet 
altogether  hypothetical  and  not  at  all  comparable  in 
validity  to  the  facts  and  theories  concerning  the  mole- 
cule, the  atom,  and  the  electron  with  which  the  earli- 
er pages  of  the  present  chapter  were  concerned. 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

POSSIBLY  the  reader  recalls  Huxley's  famous 
demonstration  that  old  maids  are  largely  re- 
sponsible for  the  development  of  the  beef-fed  Briton. 
The  explanation  was  that  old  maids  are  the  keepers 
of  cats;  that  cats  destroy  field  mice;  that  field  mice 
in  turn,  if  allowed  to  live,  would  destroy  the  bumble 
bee,  and  that  the  services  of  this  insect  are  required 
in  the  propagation  of  clover, — upon  which  feed  the 
oxen  that  supply  food  to  the  Briton. 

Notwithstanding  the  facetiousness  of  this  chain 
of  reasoning,  it  nevertheless  conveys  an  important 
truth :  the  truth  namely  that  the  very  existence  of 
flowering  plants  is  dependent  upon  the  friendly  ser- 
vices of  insects. 

Before  the  day  of  Darwin  it  was  pretty  generally 
supposed  that  flowers  are  provided  to  gladden  the 
eye  of  human  kind.  Darwin  showed  that  the  real 
purpose  of  the  blossom  is  to  attract  insects,  in  order 
that  the  pollen  may  be  conveyed  from  one  flower  to 
another  and  the  fertilization  effected  without  which 
no  seed  or  fruit  can  be  produced. 

The  fragrance  of  flowers  and  the  presence  of  sweet 
juices  are  designed  to  accomplish  the  same  end. 
When,  therefore,  we  hear  bees  humming  about  the 

142 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

apple  blossoms,  we  may  rest  assured  that  provision 
is  being  made  for  a  good  crop  of  fruit  the  coming 
fall.  And  everyone  who  has  lived  in  the  country 
must  have  observed  that  protracted  rain  storms  just 
at  the  time  when  the  apple  trees  are  in  bloom  may 
keep  the  insects  from  performing  their  unconscious 
service,  and  thus  may  prevent  the  possibility  of  a 
good  apple  crop  that  year. 

These  familiar  illustrations  from  the  vegetable 
world  suggest — what  indeed  is  matter  of  common 
knowledge — the  almost  universally  prevailing  plan 
of  Nature  according  to  which  the  union  of  two  di- 
verse types  of  elements  is  essential  to  the  production 
of  offspring.  Every-day  phraseology  speaks  of  these 
as  male  and  female  elements.  The  biologist,  using 
the  same  terminology  for  animals  and  plants,  calls 
the  female  element  an  ovum  or  germ  cell  and  the 
male  element  a  spermatozoon  or  sperm  cell. 

Biologists  and  laymen  have  been  at  one  in  suppos- 
ing the  union  of  the  two  elements  to  be  absolutely 
essential  to  the  development  of  offspring  in  the  case 
of  higher  organisms,  with  the  exception  of  certain 
insects  about  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  in  a 
moment. 

CAUSING  UNFERTILIZED  EGGS  TO  DEVELOP 

Hence  the  astonishment  with  which  scientific  and 
unscientific  readers  alike  received  the  intelligence,  in 
1899  and  1900,  that  one  of  the  most  painstaking  in- 
vestigators among  contemporary  biologists,  Profes- 
sor Jacques  Loeb,  then  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
later  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute,  New  York,  had 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

succeeded  in  causing  the  eggs  of  a  relatively  high 
organism,  the  sea-urchin,  to  develop  without  fertili- 
zation. 

The  method  by  which  Professor  Loeb  had  effected 
this  astonishing  result  was  a  relatively  simple  one. 
It  consisted  essentially  in  rendering  the  water  in 
which  the  eggs  were  kept  more  concentrated  by  the 
addition  of  chemicals  no  more  mysterious  than  com- 
mon salt.  As  finally  perfected,  the  process  was  a 
trifle  more  complicated,  inasmuch  as  the  egg  was 
first  placed  for  a  brief  period  in  a  weak  acid  solution 
before  being  subjected  to  the  influence  of  the  salt 
solution.  The  acid  causes  the  formation  of  a  mem- 
brane which  ordinarly  does  not  develop  excepting  in 
a  fertilized  egg.  The  salt  solution  extracts  a  certain 
amount  of  water  from  the  cell  and  in  so  doing  in- 
augurates mysterious  chemical  changes  that  result 
presently  in  the  development  of  an  embryo  which 
advances,  for  a  time  at  least,  as  if  the  egg  had  been 
fertilized. 

Professor  Loeb's  experiments  were  repeated  by 
various  investigators,  and  more  recently  it  is  re- 
ported that  a  French  biologist  has  extended  the 
process  to  even  higher  organisms,  and  with  the  use 
of  a  platinum  needle  and  electricity  has  been  able  to 
cause  the  development  of  unfertilized  eggs  of  the 
frog.  This  proof  that  even  the  egg  cell  of  a  verte- 
brate may  be  caused  to  develop  without  fertilization 
is  highly  interesting,  suggesting  as  it  does  that  there 
is  probably  no  limit  to  the  possible  extension  of  the 
method;  but  the  newer  experiments  are  only  an 
amplification  of  the  earlier  demonstrations.  Profes- 

144 


PROFESSOR   JACQUES   LOEB  IN    HIS   LABORATORY 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

sor  Loeb  himself  in  1912  extended  his  tests  to  the 
eggs  of  the  batrachian,  and  caused  unfertilized  eggs 
to  hatch  and  develop  into  tadpoles.  In  one  case  the 
animal  was  carried  past  the  tadpole  stage,  and  as- 
sumed the  contour  of  the  mature  frog.  It  gave  full 
promise  of  attaining  maturity,  but  unfortunately,  it 
met  an  untimely  end  by  drowning. 

Experiments  of  this  character  assuredly  break  in 
on  the  ordinary  course  of  biological  events.  Yet  they 
are  not  altogether  without  natural  precedent.  The 
very  lowest  orders  of  organisms,  such  as  protozoans 
and  bacteria,  habitually  reproduce  their  kind  by 
mere  cell  division.  Even  such  highly  developed 
organisms  as  the  honey  bee  may  produce  offspring 
parthenogenetically.  Indeed,  it  is  well-known  that 
the  male  bees  are  habitually  so  produced.  It  is  only 
the  "workers"  of  the  hive  that  have  two  parents. 

Notwithstanding  these  familiar  facts  of  life  in  the 
apiary,  and  facts  of  similar  import  regarding  certain 
other  insects,  the  experimental  development  of 
unfertilized  eggs  in  the  case  of  the  sea-urchin  and 
the  frog  must  strike  the  thoughtful  observer  as  be- 
ing essentially  mysterious.  So  far  as  known,  unfer- 
tilized eggs  of  sea-urchins  and  frogs  never  do  de- 
velop in  the  ordinary  process  of  Nature.  The  pro- 
vision that  every  individual  shall  have  two  parents, 
and  represent  the  blending  of  two  sets  of  tendencies, 
is  so  nearly  universal  that  it  has  come  to  have  the 
force  of  a  profound  natural  law,  notwithstanding  the 
exceptions  just  noted;  and  the  artificial  infringement 
of  that  law  suggests  a  very  interesting  juggling  with 
personalities. 

H5 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

It  is  obvious  that  the  individual  sea-urchin  or  frog 
developed  from  an  unfertilized  egg  must  lack  an  en- 
tire series  of  tendencies  that  come  to  the  normal  in- 
dividual through  the  paternal  strain. 

TWO  LIVES  FOR  ONE 

The  individual  developed  from  an  unfertilized  egg 
must  thus  be  thought  of  as  having  a  somewhat  re- 
stricted personality,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  has  only 
a  single  parent.  But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  con- 
verse case  in  which  an  egg  which  would  normally 
develop  into  a  single  individual  is  bi-sected  and  made 
to  develop  into  two  individuals? 

This  no  less  interesting  juggling  with  personalities 
has  been  likewise  shown  to  lie  within  the  possibilities 
of  laboratory  experiment.  Dr.  Hans  Driesch,  work- 
ing at  the  Marine  Biological  Laboratory  in  Naples, 
juggled  with  the  eggs  of  even  so  relatively  highly, 
organized  a  being  as  the  fish  in  this  curious  way.  It 
is  well  known  that  the  original  egg  cell,  which  marks 
the  first  stage  of  development  of  every  living  organ- 
ism, high  or  low,  begins  its  development  after  fer- 
tilization by  dividing  into  two  cells.  These  two  cells 
divide  presently  into  four;  the  four  into  eight,  and 
so  on. 

In  a  word,  the  entire  development  of  any  organism 
consists  essentially  merely  of  the  formation  of  more 
cells  by  division  of  pre-existing  cells.  The  cells  ulti- 
mately become  modified  and  differentiated  into  vari- 
ous tissues,  but  their  potentialities  of  development 
are  all  pre-existent  in  the  original  egg  cell. 

Dr.  Driesch's  experiment  consisted  in  invading  the 

146 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

domain  of  the  organism  at  the  early  stage  when  its 
original  cell  had  divided  into  two,  or  had  undergone 
a  second,  or  even  a  third  division.  Left  to  its  own 
devices,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  laws  of 
normal  development,  the  egg  which  now  consists  of, 
let  us  say,  four  cells,  would  develop  into  a  single 
individual  fish.  The  four  cells  are  as  much  parts  of 
one  individual  as  are  the  arms  and  legs  of  any  given 
man  parts  of  one  individual. 

Yet  Dr.  Driesch  succeeded  in  teasing  these  four 
cells  apart  and  saw  each  one  of  them  begin  life  anew, 
as  it  were,  as  a  separate  individual. 

And  in  due  course  each  of  the  four  developed  into 
a  complete  and  normal  fish,  differing  in  no  obvious 
way  from  other  fish  of  the  same  species  except  that 
they  were  smaller  in  size.  The  fact  of  reduced  size, 
however,  gives  emphasis  to  the  feeling,  which  one 
cannot  well  escape,  that  the  four  fish  represent  what 
might  be  spoken  of  as  a  multiple  personality,  and 
that  each  individual  lacks  something  of  a  complete 
and  normal  inheritance. 

In  similar  experiments  with  sea-urchins,  Professor 
Loeb  found  that  the  embryo  might  be  bi-sected  after 
it  had  reached  the  sixteen-cell  stage;  each  part  devel- 
oping into  a  complete  individual. 

THE  CASE  OF  TWINS 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  laboratory  experi- 
ment whereby  the  miracle  is  thus  performed  of  di- 
viding one  individual  into  two  or  four  complete 
individuals,  is  duplicated  in  human  experience  in  the 
case  of  what  are  spoken  of  in  common  parlance  as 

147 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

"identical"  twins.  It  is  matter  of  familiar  experience 
that  human  twins  are  occasionally  born  that  are  so 
closely  similar  in  all  their  physical  and  mental  traits 
as  to  be  distinguished  with  difficulty  one  from  the 
other.  Such  twins,  in  the  view  of  the  physiologists, 
have  been  developed  from  a  single  ovum,  by  some 
accidental  duplication  of  the  laboratory  experiment 
just  related. 

These  identical  twins  are  always  of  the  same  sex, 
and  we  may  think  of  them  as  representing,  like  Dr. 
Driesch's  fishes,  a  curiously  divided  personality.  Ac- 
cording to  the  normal  scheme  of  things,  they  repre- 
sent the  hereditary  potentialities  of  a  single  individ- 
ual masking  in  the  guise  of  two  physical  organisms. 

The  same  comment  obviously  applies  in  even 
greater  degree  to  the  well-known  cases  in  which  the 
bodies  of  twins  are  not  altogether  separated;  the 
best  known  of  such  cases  being  that  of  the  Siamese 
twins.  This  condition  also  has  been  duplicated  in 
the  laboratory,  where  by  retricting  the  embryo  of  a 
sea-urchin  without  actually  bi-secting  it,  Professor 
Loeb  has  developed  two  adult  organisms  joined  to- 
gether by  a  bridge  of  tissue. 

The  constriction  of  the  embryo  is  effected  in  a 
curious  way  in  Professor  Loeb's  experiment  with  the 
sea-urchin.  The  egg  is  put  into  diluted  sea  water, 
and  the  weakened  salt  solution  causes  the  egg  to 
burst  because  of  its  osmotic  pressure.  Part  of  the 
egg  content  flows  out  without  becoming  detached 
from  that  which  remains  within  the  cell.  The  rup- 
tured cell-wall  itself  serves  as  the  constricting  agent, 
and  a  dumb-bell  shaped  embryo  is  formed. 

148 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

According  to  the  amount  of  constriction  this  dumb- 
bell mass  may  expand  and  become  rounded  in  form, 
in  that  case  developing  a  single  individual;  or  the 
constriction  may  continue  and  Siamese  twins  will 
result. 

ONE  LIFE  FOR  TWO 

Not  content  with  splitting  one  individual  into  two, 
biologists  have  attempted  successfully  the  opposite 
experiment  of  fusing  two  individuals  into  one.  Dr. 
Driesch,  at  the  Marine  Biological  Laboratory  at 
Naples,  forced  two  embryos  together  at  an  early 
stage,  and  caused  their  contents  to  blend.  A  single 
giant  embryo  was  thus  produced.  Professor  Loeb 
repeated  this  experiment,  and  was  able  to  fuse  more 
than  two  eggs  of  the  star  fish,  so  that  a  single  indi- 
vidual developed  where  there  should  have  been  two 
or  three  individuals.  As  in  Dr.  Driesch's  experi- 
ments, the  resulting  individual  was  much  larger  than 
the  average  normal  individual. 

It  seems  more  than  likely  that  this  observed  devel- 
opment of  abnormally  large  individuals  by  the  fusing 
of  egg-cells,  may  give  a  clue  to  the  otherwise  inex- 
plicable appearance  now  and  then  of  a  human  giant, 
the  offspring  of  normal  parents.  The  accidental 
fusing  of  two  ova  may  produce  a  giant,  just  as  the 
accidental  division  of  an  ovum  produces  identical 
twins. 

In  any  event,  the  experiment  of  blending  two  or 
more  individuals  in  the  laboratory  to  produce  a 
single  individual  suggests  interesting  questions  as  to 
the  personality  and  hereditary  potentialities  gf  the 

H9 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

being  thus  produced.  If  the  divided  cell  may  be 
thought  of  as  producing  severed  personalities,  then 
the  fused  cells  certainly  suggest  a  blending  of  per- 
sonalities that  is  no  less  interesting.  The  individual 
that  has  resulted  from  the  actual  fusing  of  the  sub- 
stance of  two  individuals,  even  though  he  presents 
only  the  normal  number  of  physical  organs  and  mem- 
bers, must  assuredly  have  certain  hereditary  poten- 
tialities over  and  above  the  average  of  his  fellows, 
inasmuch  as  each  one  of  the  offspring  of  the  same 
parents  differs  somewhat  from  all  its  brothers  and 
sisters. 

That  giants  of  extreme  size  are  usually  below  the 
average  in  quality  of  mind  and  body,  suggests  the 
possibility  that  such  abnormal  individuals  have  re- 
sulted from  the  union  of  two  or  more  ova  of  divergent 
tendencies, — even  of  different  sexes, — representing, 
therefore,  qualities  too  divergent  for  harmonious 
blending.  The  experimenters  of  the  future  will  per- 
haps find  the  investigation  of  this  question  a  fertile 
field. 

NEW  HEADS  FOR  OLD 

The  experiments  that  thus  make  one  individual 
into  two  or  two  individuals  into  one,  find  an  interest- 
ing counterpart  in  experiments  of  another  type  which 
are  concerned  with  the  regeneration  of  lost  members. 
Here  the  tests  are  made  on  adult  organisms,  but  for 
the  most  part  the  creatures  experimented  upon  be- 
long to  low  orders. 

It  is  only  creatures  of  the  scale  of  development  of 
worms,  for  example,  that  can  be  induced  to  grow  new 

150 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

heads  when  they  are  decapitated;  the  reason  being, 
perhaps,  that  higher  organisms  have  developed  a 
concentration  of  nerve  cells  in  the  head, — as  ganglia 
or  brain, — so  that  decapitation  involves  a  nervous 
shock  from  which  the  animal  does  not  recover. 

In  the  case  of  various  worms,  however,  it  is  possi- 
ble to  sever  the  head  without  destroying  the  life  of 
the  individual.  In  such  case,  as  Professor  T.  H. 
Morgan  in  particular  has  shown,  a  new  head  may 
grow  closely  duplicating  the  old  one,  and  the  indi- 
vidual may  appear  to  be  no  worse  for  the  experience. 
In  the  case  of  a  certain  type  of  flat  fresh  water  worm 
known  as  a  planarian,  Professor  Morgan  has  cut  off 
both  extremities,  leaving  only  an  oblong  central  sec- 
tion of  the  body;  and  has  observed  a  complete 
restoration  of  both  head  and  tail. 

Professor  Loeb  decapitated  a  marine  planarian 
(Thysanozoon),  with  the  result  that  the  head  grew 
a  new  body  and  the  body  a  new  head,  so  that  one 
adult  individual  had  now  become  two  individuals. 
Indeed  this  experiment  by  no  means  shows  the  limits 
of  the  capacity  for  rejuvenation  of  this  type  of  worm. 
For  Professor  S.  J.  Holmes  reports  that  he  has  cut 
a  planarian  into  twenty  pieces,  each  of  which  regen- 
erated into  a  complete  planarian  of  reduced  size. 
The'  process  was  repeated  over  and  over  until  hun- 
dreds of  individuals  had  been  produced,  the  last 
"generation"  of  which  comprised  individuals  less 
than  one-fifteen-hundredth  of  the  bulk  of  the  original 
individual. 

Reflect  that  the  planarian  is  a  creature  having  eyes, 
a  nervous  system,  and  a  fair  equipment  of  internal 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

organs,  and  it  will  be  obvious  that  this  series  of  ex- 
periments resulted  in  an  amazing  multiplication  of 
personalities. 

Experiments  of  this,  type  may  be  so  modified  as 
to  result  in  growing  multiple  heads  on  a  single  body. 
Professor  T.  H.  Morgan  has  been  able  to  produce  a 
two-headed  earth  worm,  by  cutting  off  the  anterior 
end  and  then  excising  a  piece  of  the  central  nerve 
cord,  so  that  two  anterior  nerve  ends  remained,  from 
each  of  which  a  head  developed.  Dr.  Van  Duyne, 
at  Professor  Loeb's  suggestion,  extended  the  experi- 
ment to  planarians  with  such  success  as  to  grow  not 
merely  two  but  as  many  as  six  heads  to  an  individual, 
each  head  with  its  normal  pair  of  eyes. 

Possibly  the  ancient  Greeks  were  led  to  conceive 
the  idea  of  the  hydra-headed  monster  from  observa- 
tion of  a  planarian  that  through  some  accident  had 
been  similarly  led  to  develop  multiple  heads. 

As  showing  that  the  diverse  heads  thus  developed 
on  one  body  have  in  truth  something  of  divided  per- 
sonality, we  may  note  Professor  Loeb's  comment 
that  his  double-headed  planarian  is  observed  to 
develop  conflicting  tendencies.  Thus  the  two  heads 
will  struggle  for  the  same  piece  of  meat,  regardless 
of  the  fact  that  the  same  body  will  receive  it  which- 
ever mouth  wins. 

Again  the  two  heads  may  pull  in  opposite  'direc- 
tions so  strongly  as  actually  to  tear  the  body 
asunder! 

This  growing  of  hydra-headed  monsters  is  curious 
enough,  but  Professor  Loeb  has  juggled  with  certain 
other  low  organisms  in  a  way  in  some  respects  even 

152 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

more  curious,  undertaking  to  bring  about  the  substi- 
tution of  one  organ  for  another.  He  applied  his  test 
to  certain  marine  forms  known  as  hydroids  and 
ascidians  with  entire  success. 

There  is,  for  example,  a  hydroid  that  is  called  a 
tubularian  because  its  body  consists  of  a  long  tube, 
one  end  of  which  is  attached  to  the  sea  bed  by  a 
stolon  or  foot,  while  the  other  end,  representing  the 
head,  is  a  fringe-like  mass  of  tentacles  with  a  mouth 
for  the  ingestion  of  food.  Professor  Loeb  cut  off 
both  ends,  and  inverted  the  tube  so  that  the  end  from 
which  the  head  would  normally  grow  was  fixed  in 
the  sand,  the  foot  end  being  free  in  the  water.  Under 
these  circumstances  a  new  head  forms  where  the  foot 
had  normally  been.  It  is  even  possible,  in  some 
cases,  to  develop  a  head  at  each  end  of  the  stem. 

This  process  of  so-called  heteromorphosis  is  illus- 
trated in  a  striking  way,  as  Professor  Herbst  has 
shown,  in  the  case  of  a  creature  much  higher  in  the 
organic  scale,  namely,  a  crustacean,  allied  to  the 
familiar  crab.  Here  if  an  eye  is  removed,  the  sev- 
ered organ  may  be  replaced  by  an  antenna.  Indeed 
this  is  sure  to  take  place  if  the  optic  ganglion  is  re- 
moved. On  the  other  hand  if  this  ganglion  is  left 
intact,  a  new  eye  is  formed  apparently  quite  as  good 
as  the  old  one. 

RESTORING  LOST  MEMBERS 

The  growing  of  a  new  eye  of  this  highly  specialized, 
type  is  a  striking  phenomenon.     But  it  must  be  re- 
called that  the  crab  and  its  allies  have  remarkable 
properties  of  regenerating  lost  members.    It  has  long 
11  153 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

been  known  that  if  a  crab  or  a  lobster  loses  a  claw, 
another  claw  presently  grows  in  its  place.  A  similar 
restoration  of  members  may  take  place  in  animals 
still  higher  in  the  organic  scaled  If  a  salamander,  for 
example,  loses  its  tail  or  a  leg,  the  member  is  pres- 
ently replaced  by  a  new  one  precisely  like  the  old. 
Various  reptiles  are  also  able  to  grow  new  members. 

On  the  whole  this  regeneration  of  limbs  would 
perhaps  not  seem  mysterious — except  as  all  life 
processes  are  mysterious — were  it  not  that  the  capac- 
ity is  entirely  lacking  in  all  organisms  higher  than 
the  reptiles.  No  bird  or  mammal,  either  in  a  state 
of  nature  or  under  the  observation  of  the  experi- 
menter, shows  the  slightest  capacity  to  reproduce 
a  lost  eye  or  leg,  or  even  the  single  joint  of  a  toe. 

It  is  this  fact  that  makes  the  power  of  regenerating 
lost  members  as  exhibited  by  the  lower  organisms 
seem  mysterious  and  wonderful. 

Inasmuch  as  the  higher  organisms  have  developed 
from  the  lower  forms,  it  would  appear  that  the 
capacity  to  restore  severed  members  is  one  that  has 
somehow  been  lost  in  the  process  of  evolution.  In- 
teresting questions  might  arise  as  to  just  why  this 
has  come  about.  It  is  not  altogether  a  question  of 
complexity  of  organization,  for  the  leg  of  a  mouse, 
tor  example,  is  seemingly  no  more  complex  a  mem- 
ber than  the  leg  of  a  salamander.  Indeed  the  two 
members  are  constructed  alter  the  same  pattern. 

Perhaps  the  explanation  of  the  anomaly  is  to  be 
found  in  the  difference  of  habit  of  cold  blooded  and 
warm  blooded  animals.  The  cold  blooded  creatures 
are  able  to  go  long  periods  without  food.  They  very 

154 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

generally  haunt  secluded  crevices  and  lie  in  wait  for 
their  food,  consisting  largely  of  insects  or  small 
worms  and  the  like.  The  loss  of  a  leg  might  not 
jeopardize  the  life  of  such  a  creature  in  any  such 
degree  as  the  life  of  a  mouse  must  be  jeopardized 
by  a  similar  loss.  Natural  selection,  therefore,  may 
preserve  the  capacity  to  grow  new  members  in  the 
case  of  a  cold  blooded  animal;  through  the  same 
agency  the  capacity  has  been  lost  in  the  case  of  warm 
blooded  animals. 

But  whatever  the  explanation,  the  fact  remains, 
and  we  should  think  it  almost  miraculous  were  a 
mammal  observed  to  grow  a  new  leg  in  place  of  one 
that  has  been  amputated. 

Very  recently,  however,  Dr.  Alexis  Carrel,  of  the 
Rockefeller  Institute,  New  York,  has  shown  that  the 
lost  members  of  a  higher  animal  may  be  replaced 
by  the  substitution  of  a  new  member  through  a  sur- 
gical procedure.  He  has  amputated  the  leg  of  a  dog, 
for  example,  and  replaced  the  member  with  a  closely 
similar  one  taken  from  another  dog;  and  has  seen 
the  new  member  grow  into  place  and  become  a  part 
of  the  body  of  its  new  host. 

Dr.  Carrel  has  similarly  transplanted  various  in- 
ternal organs,  including  the  kidneys,  from  one  animal 
to  another,  and  caused  them  to  take  root,  as  it  were, 
and  perform  their  normal  functions.  The  success  of 
his  experiments  is  due  largely  to  his  introduction  of 
a  new  method  of  uniting  arteries  and  veins,  whereby 
they  are  so  cleverly  sutured  together  that  scarcely 
a  trace  of  the  point  of  union  remains  when  the  wound 
has  healed.  In  recognition  of  the  importance  of  this 

155 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

method  and  its  results,  Dr.  Carrel  received  the  Nobel 
prize  in  medicine  and  physiology  in  1912. 

MULTIPLE  PARENTAGE 

From  the  present  standpoint  perhaps  the  most 
interesting  application  of  Dr.  Carrel's  method  of 
transplanting  organs  has  been  made  by  Professor 
William  E.  Castle,  of  Harvard  University.  Profes- 
sor Castle  has  experimented  in  the  breeding  of 
guinea  pigs,  until  he  has  developed  white  races  and 
black  races  of  these  animals  which  always  breed  ab- 
solutely true.  The  experiment  to  which  I  refer  con- 
sisted in  removing  the  ovaries  of  a  white  guinea  pig 
and  replacing  them  with  the  ovaries  of  a  black  indi- 
vidual. The  white  individual — mated  with  an  albino 
— thereafter  produced  black  offspring. 

It  would  therefore  appear  that  the  maternal  her- 
itage of  these  black  offspring  came  from  an  animal 
that  did  not  bear  them, — an  animal  that  had  perhaps 
died  long  before.  Meantime,  it  would  be  a  misuse  of 
language  to  deny  motherhood  of  the  offspring  to  the 
white  guinea  pig  that  did  actually  bear  them. 

Shall  we  say,  then,  that  the  offspring  had  two 
mothers? 

If  so,  we  are  led  to  consider  the  question  of  per- 
sonality from  a  new  angle ;  for  an  organism  with 
three  parents  is  an  anomaly  that  lies  outside  the 
domain  of  antecedent  observation  or  experience  any- 
where in  the  organic  world. 

In  yet  another  way  the  question  of  personality 
arises  in  connection  with  these  new  experiments  of 
transplanting  organs  or  members  from  one  individual 

156 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

to  another.  Dr.  Carrel's  observations  show  that 
there  is  a  specific  quality  about  the  tissues  of  an 
animal  that  is  profound  and  individual.  The  kidney 
of  a  cat  seems  to  perform  identically  the  same  func- 
tion as  the  kidney  of  a  dog.  But  one  cannot  be  sub- 
stituted for  the  other  in  these  experiments  in  trans- 
planting members.  The  kidney  of  a  dog  may  be 
transferred  to  another  dog;  the  kidney  of  a  cat  to 
another  cat;  but  the  two  must  not  be  interchanged. 

Even  where  the  organ  experimented  with  is  so 
simple  as  the  tube  of  an  artery,  it  is  with  difficulty 
that  an  exchange  between  animals  of  different  spe- 
cies may  be  effected.  To  all  casual  observation,  and 
even  to  close  observation  with  the  microscope,  the 
artery  of  a  cat  seems  identical  with  that  of  a  dog; 
but  there  is  a  deep-seated  chemical  difference  which 
makes  itself  felt  if,  for  example,  a  section  of  cat's 
artery  is  made  to  replace  an  exsected  portion  of  the 
artery  of  a  dog. 

It  was  a  foregone  conclusion,  therefore,  that  the 
attempt  recently  made  by  a  Berlin  surgeon  to  re- 
place a  diseased  human  kidney  with  the  kidney  of  a 
monkey  would  be  a  failure.  The  surgeon  of  the 
future  will  doubtless  replace  diseased  kidneys  and 
other  vital  organs  with  normal  ones,  but  the  substi- 
tuted organs  will  be  taken  from  human  subjects, — 
say  from  the  victims  of  accidents,  or  from  executed 
criminals. 

TRACING  BLOOD  RELATIONSHIP 

The  specific  quality  which  thus  pervades  every 
tissue  of  an  organism — so  that  the  remotest  cell  of 

157 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

a  cat,  for  example,  has  some  quality  of  felineness  that 
distinguishes  it  from  a  cell  of  any  other  species  of 
animal — extends  its  mysterious  influence  so  compre- 
hensively that  it  includes  not  merely  every  fibre  of 
the  organism  but  every  drop  of  blood  in  an  animal's 
body. 

The  proof  of  this  has  been  given  in  a  remarkable 
series  of  experiments  conducted  by  Professor  G.  H. 
F.  Nuttall,  the  American  biologist,  now  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge. 

Professor  Nuttall  has  developed  a  system  of  bloo'di 
testing  of  such  delicacy  as  quite  to  transcend  the 
bounds  of  microscopic  examination  or  of  any  chemical 
methods  hitherto  known;  and  in  so  doing  has  found 
a  method  of  testing  the  relationships  of  different 
tribes  of  animals  that  seems  little  less  than  magical. 

The  tests  show,  for  example,  that  man  is  more 
closely  related  to  the  old  world  monkeys  than  to  the 
monkeys  of  the  new  world;  our  closest  relatives  be- 
ing the  chimpanzee,  the  gorilla,  and  the  orang  in  the 
order  named.  Similarly  the  relationships  between 
different  members  of  the  dog  family,  the  cat  family, 
and  the  like  are  traced.  Thus  the  hyena  appears  to 
be  to  some  extent  intermediate  between  dog  and 
cat  tribes,  but,  contrary  to  what  might  be  expected, 
it  is  much  more  closely  related  to  the  cat  than  to  the 
dog.  The  seal  and  sea  lion,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
closer  to  the  dog  family  than  to  the  cats.  Moreover 
the  seals  are  somewhat  more  closely  related  to  the 
weazel  tribe  than  to  the  felines. 

The  porpoise,  which  might  be  supposed  to  be  allied 
to  the  seal,  is  found  instead  to  show  close  affinities 

158 


PROFESSOR    G.    H.    F.    NUTTALL 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

with  the  ox  tribe,  and  in  particular  with  the  pigs. 
Indeed  the  porpoise  may  be  regarded  as  a  pig  that 
has  taken  to  the  water  and  perforce  become  carniver- 
ous  in  diet.  It  is  necessary  also  to  record  the  rather 
unflattering  observation  that  the  blood  of  the  por- 
poise shows  more  pronounced  affinities  with  human 
blood  than  with  that  of  most  other  animals. 

The  family  groupings  among  reptiles  show  close 
blood  relationship  between  lizards  and  serpents,  and 
a  slightly  less  close  relationship  between  turtles  and 
crocodiles.  The  reptiles  are  more  closely  related  to 
birds  than  to  mammals.  The  relationship  appears  to 
be  particularly  close  between  birds  and  turtles;  less 
close  between  birds  and  crocodiles;  the  avian  rela- 
tionship with  lizards  and  serpents  being  still  more 
remote. 

FROM  LABORATORY  TO  POLICE  COURT 

These  tests  singularly  confirm  the  conclusions  of 
the  zoologist,  based  on  study  of  the  anatomical  struc- 
tures of  the  different  tribes  of  animals;  but  the  testi- 
mony is  absolutely  independent,  the  tests  being  made, 
as  already  pointed  out,  by  means  of  blood  alone. 

Indeed  the  maker  of  the  test  may  never  have  seen 
a  specimen  of  the  species  whose  rank  in  the  organic 
scale  he  is  determining.  The  specimens  of  blood  that 
Professor  Nuttall  used  in  his  classical  series  of  exper- 
iments  were  collected  from  a  multitude  of  sources; 
no  fewer  than  seventy  different  persons  sending 
specimens  from  different  parts  of  the  globe. 

Many  of  the  collectors  were  hunters,  who  merely 
dipped  a  piece  of  filter  paper  in  the  blood  of  a  quarry 

159 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

and  transmitted  it  to  the  Cambridge  Laboratory. 
There  the  discolored  piece  of  paper  was  soaked  in 
water  to  produce  a  clear  solution  of  blood  serum. 
A  portion  of  this  solution  was  placed  in  a  test-tube, 
and  this  test-tube  put  in  a  rack  along  with  scores  of 
other  specimens,  each  bearing  only  a  number. 

Into  each  test-tube  a  small  drop  of  a  certain  liquid 
was  placed.  If  the  solution  in  the  test-tube  became 
cloudy,  the  experimenter  was  able  to  pronounce 
definitely  that  the  blood  was  that  of  an  animal  of  a 
certain  tribe.  It  might,  for  example,  be  the  blood 
of  a  tiger  or  a  leopard  or  a  panther  or  a  cheetah; 
but  it  could  not  be  the  blood  of  a  hyena  or  a  wolf 
or  a  dog. 

Again  the  test  might  be  applied  to  a  blood  stain 
on  a  handkerchief  or  knife,  or  on  a  fragment  of  wood 
from  a  floor  or  window  sill,  or  scraped  from  the  sur- 
face of  a  boot  or  a  coin.  In  this  case  the  proof  as 
to  whether  the  stain  was  caused  by  human  blood  or 
by  that  of  some  animal  might  be  the  deciding  testi- 
mony in  a  murder  trial. 

Here  the  method  of  procedure  would  be  the  same 
as  before.  A  solution  being  made  from  the  blood 
stain  and  placed  in  a  test-tube,  the  trial  fluid  would 
determine  whether  the  stain  was  due  to  human  blood. 
If  the  test  proved  negative,  other  tests  might  deter- 
mine what  particular  animal  supplied  the  blood.  In 
a  case  reported  by  Professor  Uhlenroth,  for  example, 
a  blood  spot  in  the  road,  suspected  to  be  of  human 
origin,  was  found  to  be  from  the  blood  of  a  pig.  In 
another  case  blood  stains  on  a  garment  were  reported 
as  being  partly  human  and  partly  due  to  the  blood 

1 60 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

of  the  sheep.  In  this  case  it  was  subsequently  proved 
in  court  that  the  wearer  of  the  garment  had  com- 
mitted a  murder,  but  that  he  had  slaughtered  sheep 
two  weeks  before  the  murder. 

The  importance  of  such  a  test  from  a  medico-legal 
standpoint  is  obvious.  It  has  been  shown  that  the 
test  can  be  applied  to  blood  stains  on  the  most  varied 
materials,  including  wallpaper,  wood,  stone,  coal, 
coke,  straw,  rubber,  linoleum,  silver  and  copper  coins, 
and  even  shoes  that  had  been  blackened  after  the 
blood  was  spattered  over  their  surface.  Various  im- 
plements that  had  figured  in  murder  trials  were 
supplied  by  Scotland  Yard  to  the  Cambridge  Labor- 
atory to  discover  whether  the  tests  could  be  applied 
to  blood  stains  of  long  standing.  It  was  found  that 
the  age  of  the  stain  made  no  particular  difference. 
Blood  stains  of  twenty-eight  and  thirty  years'  stand- 
ing on  knives  and  razors  responded  to  the  test  and 
gave  unequivocal  evidence  of  their  human  origin. 

HOW  THE  TEST  FLUIDS  ARE  DEVELOPED 

A  word  now  as  to  the  production  of  the  magical 
fluid  with  which  such  tests  are  operated.  The  fluid 
consists  of  a  portion  of  blood  serum  drawn  from  the 
veins  of  a  rabbit.  The  peculiar  properties  of  the 
serum  have  been  developed  by  repeated  injections 
into  the  system  of  the  serum  of  human  blood  or  that 
of  some  other  member  of  the  animal  kingdom,  ac- 
cording to  the  particular  type  of  test  that  is  to  be 
made. 

A  rabbit  inoculated  with  human  blood  develops 
a  so-called  anti-human  serum.  Another  rabbit  in- 

161 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

oculated  with  the  blood  serum  of  a  cat,  will  develop 
an  anti-feline  serum;  and  so  for  all  other  tribes  of 
animals, — including  not  merely  mammals  but  birds, 
reptiles,  and  even  crustaceans,  such  as  the  lobster 
and  its  allies. 

The  explanation  of  the  development  in  the  body 
of  the  rabbit  of  the  peculiar  quality  of  blood  that 
gives  the  anti-serum  its  value  in  such  tests  as  those 
outlined,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  blood  of  almost 
any  animal  has  a  certain  quality  of  toxicity  when  in- 
jected into  the  veins  of  an  animal  of  different  species. 
In  some  cases  this  action  may  be  very  virulent. 

For  example,  fifteen  drops  of  the  blood  of  an  eel 
injected  into  the  veins  of  a  dog  weighing  about 
thirty  pounds  may  produce  death  in  seven  or  eight 
minutes. 

In  another  experiment  ten  drops  of  the  blood 
serum  of  an  eel  killed  a  rabbit  of  ordinary  size  in 
two-and-a-half  minutes.  The  foreign  blood  serum 
appears  to  attack  the  blood  corpuscles,  rendering 
them  functionless  and  presently  dissolving  them. 

Curiously  enough  the  blood  corpuscles  of  new- 
born rabbits  are  much  more  resistant  to  foreign 
blood  than  are  those  of  the  adult  rabbit.  But  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  resistance  obtains  in  all  animals,  and 
this  may  be  accentuated  by  introducing  a  very  small 
quantity  of  foreign  blood  serum,  and  from  time  to 
time  repeating  and  increasing  the  dose.  In  this  way 
the  system  of  the  animal  becomes  to  some  extent 
immune  to  the  poisonous  effect  of  the  foreign  blood, 
through  development  of  what  for  want  of  a  better 
term  is  called  an  anti-serum. 

162 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

The  blood  of  a  rabbit  that  has  attained  this  condi- 
tion may  then  be  used  in  testing  for  the  presence  of 
the  particular  type  of  blood  that  was  used  in  devel- 
oping the  anti-serum.  For  example,  if  human  blood 
was  the  kind  injected  into  the  system  of  the  rabbit, 
the  rabbit's  blood  will  now  serve  as  a  test  for  human 
blood. 

MAN'S  REMOTE  RELATIVES 

It  appears,  however,  that  the  anti-serum  thus  de- 
veloped, while  its  most  pronounced  reactions  will  be 
given  with  solutions  of  human  blood,  will  also  react 
in  a  less  marked  degree  with  the  blood  of  other 
animals. 

If  successive  drops  of  the  anti-serum  are  intro- 
duced into  one  test-tube  after  another,  as  in  the 
Cambridge  experiments,  it  will  be  observed  that  in 
some  tubes  there  is  an  immediate  reaction,  resulting 
in  a  white  precipitate.  In  other  tubes  the  reaction 
will  set  in  only  after  some  minutes;  in  yet  others 
after  hours;  and  the  remaining  test-tubes  will  remain 
permanently  clear.  It  is  these  graded  results  that 
enable  the  experimenter  to  test  the  blood  relation- 
ships of  the  different  animals. 

It  is  found,  for  example,  that  when  a  test  is  made 
with  human  anti-serum,  an  immediate  reaction  is 
observed  only  in  test-tubes  containing  human  blood. 
Less  prompt  and  less  marked  reaction  occurs  in  the 
tubes  containing  the  blood  of  the  man-apes;  still 
milder  reaction  in  the  case  of  baboons,  monkeys,  and 
marmosets  in  succession;  and  a  long  delayed  or  alto- 
gether negative  result  in  all  other  cases.  It  is  ob- 

163 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

vious  how  similar  tests  with  other  types  of  anti-sera 
enable  the  experimenter  to  follow  out  the  relation- 
ships of  different  tribes  of  animals. 

Professor  Nuttall's  experiments  comprised  sixteen 
thousand  individual  tests,  with  a  total  of  at  least  586 
species — mammals,  birds,  reptiles,  batrachian,  fishes, 
crustaceans — coming  from  all  parts  of  the  globe. 
These  experiments  are  in  themselves  highly  inter- 
esting; in  their  implications  they  are  nothing  less 
than  astounding. 

Doubtless  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years 
have  elapsed  since  the  direct  ancestors  of  men 
branched  from  a  common  stem  with  the  direct  ances- 
tors of  the  gorilla.  There  has  been  no  blending  of 
blood  in  the  intervening  centuries.  Cats  have  been 
cats  and  dogs  dogs  from  geological  epochs  so  remote 
that  we  hesitate  to  guess  their  span  in  terms  of  years. 
So  the  intimate  chemical  qualties  that  denote  man 
or  ape  or  cat  or  dog,  each  in  contradistinction  to  all 
the  others,  must  have  been  transmitted  unmodified 
through  countless  thousands  of  generations. 

It  taxes  credulity  to  believe  that  such  intangible 
properties  could  be  transmitted  unmodified,  through 
the  blood  streams  of  such  myriads  of  individuals ;  but 
the  evidence  of  the  test-tubes  proves  that  this  has 
been  done. 

What  makes  the  marvel  greater  is  the  fact  that  the 
bodies  of  the  animals  have  meantime  been  so  modi- 
fied as  to  develop  utterly  divergent  species, — for  ex- 
ample, the  lion,  the  tiger,  the  puma,  the  leopard,  and 
the  house  cat;  different  types  of  dogs,  wolves,  foxes, 
and  their  allies.  But  in  each  case  some  intangible 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

quality  of  the  blood  remains  unchanged  to  prove  the 
common  origin.    Blood  is  indeed  thicker  than  water. 

GROWING  ANIMAL  TISSUES  OUTSIDE  THE  BODY 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  remarkable  fluid  with 
which  Dr.  Nuttall's  wizard-like  tests  are  made  is  de- 
veloped in  the  body  of  an  animal.  I  wish  now  to  tell 
of  a  series  of  experiments  in  which  the  process  is 
reversed,  and  tissues  taken  from  the  body  are  made 
to  grow  in  glass  receptacles. 

When  I  add  that  the  tissues  that  are  thus  cultivated 
under  glass  have  perhaps  been  cut  from  the  body  of  a 
dead  chicken  that  has  hung  for  some  days  in  cold 
storage,  the  reader  will  divine  that  the  experiments  in 
question  are  something  out  of  the  ordinary.  Possibly 
they  constitute  the  most  remarkable  of  the  various 
types  of  life-juggling  experiments  with  which  this 
chapter  is  concerned. 

The  chief  innovators  in  the  art  of  growing  living 
tissues  in  an  incubator  are  Drs.  Alexis  Carrel  and 
Montrose  T.  Burrows,  of  the  Rockfeller  Institute, 
though  Dr.  Leo  Loeb  had  earlier  made  tentative 
experiments  and  Dr.  R.  S.  Harrison  was  the  first  to 
prove  the  feasibility  of  such  investigations.  Dr. 
Harrison  (1907)  worked  with  embryological  tissues. 
Drs.  Carrel  and  Burrows  generalized  the  method  in 
1910.  The  tissues  experimented  with  are  fragments 
of  spleen  or  liver  or  skin  of  the  chicken  or  of  various 
higher  animals.  Similar  tests  have  also  been  made 
with  fragments  cut  from  various  abnormal  growths 
including  malignant  tumors.  Indeed,  tissues  of  al- 
most every  character  may  be  utilized  successfully. 

165 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

The  fragments  of  tissues  are  removed  by  rapid 
incision  from  the  organs  of  animals  recently  killed, 
or  the  bodies  of  which  have  been  kept  in  cold  storage. 
The  transfer  of  this  tissue  to  the  medium  in  which  it 
is  to  grow  must  be  made  quickly,  as  exposure  to  the 
air  for  more  than  a  few  seconds  may  cause  the  death 
of  the  cells.  The  culture  medium  consists  chiefly  of 
blood  plasma,  which  may  be  variously  modified  to 
test  the  influence  of  different  chemicals  on  the  growth 
of  different  types  of  cells. 

The  tissue  i'n  its  glass  receptacle  is  placed  in  an 
incubator,  kept  at  body  temperature,  from  which  it 
may  be  from  time  to  time  removed  for  examination. 

The  growth  of  the  cells  may  be  obvious  to  the  naked 
eye  through  the  increasing  size  of  the  original  frag- 
ment; and  it  may  be  more  specifically  observed  under 
the  microscope.  In  the  latter  case  the  microscope  is 
mounted  on  a  heated  receptacle  so  that  injury  may 
not  be  done  to  the  growing  tissue  by  prolonged  sub- 
jection to  altered  temperature. 

It  is  curious  to  note,  however,  that  whereas  ex- 
posure to  ordinary  room  temperature  for  a  period  of 
half  an  hour  or  so  would  destroy  the  tissue,  it  may  be 
placed  in  cold  storage  for  a  good  many  hours,  or  even 
days,  without  permanent  loss  of  vitality.  Apparently 
freezing  interrupts  the  chemical  changes  and  brings 
about  a  virtual  rest  of  the  cells.  Of  course  chemical 
action  is  not  absolutely  stopped,  but  it  is  so  much  re- 
tarded that  the  destructive  changes  that  would  occur 
at  ordinary  temperature  in  the  course  of  a  few  min- 
utes may  be  delayed  for  hours  or  days. 

We  noted  that  the  tissues  for  cultivation  under 

166 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

glass  may  be  cut  from  a  dead  animal,  and  even  from 
one  that  has  hung  for  several  days  in  cold  storage. 
This  proves,  obviously  enough,  that  the  bodily  tissues 
do  not  lose  their  vitality  immediately  after  the  death 
of  an  individual  organism.  A  decapitated  chicken  that 
has  hung  three  or  four  days  in  an  ice  chest  is  un- 
equivocally dead,  according  to  the  ordinary  meaning 
of  words.  Yet  various  of  its  tissues  may  still  be  alive, 
as  the  experiments  of  Drs.  Carrel  and  Burrows  show; 
and  may  be  not  only  kept  alive  but  caused  to  develop 
new  cells, — that  is  to  say,  to  grow,  as  only  living  tis- 
sues can  do. 

PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  value  of 
this  new  method,  as  placing  in  the  hands  of  the 
physiologist  and  the  practical  physician  and  surgeon, 
new  means  of  testing  remedies  and  new  possibilities 
of  progress  in  scientific  medicine. 

Within  a  few  months  of  the  time  when  the  first 
experiments  were  made,  Professor  Von  Wassermann, 
at  Berlin,  and  Professor  Ehrlich,  in  Frankfort,  have 
announced  the  discovery  of  drugs  that  attack  cancer 
cells  in  mice  and  cause  the  destruction  of  these  malig- 
nant tumors.  It  is  understood  that  the  experiments 
which  gave  clues  to  the  remedies  that  would  thus 
have  a  selective  action  on  the  cancer  cells  were  made, 
in  part  at  least,  with  tissues  grown  outside  the  body 
according  to  the  method  of  Drs.  Carrel  and  Burrows. 

This  may  be  regarded  as  an  augury  of  many  other 
therapeutic  discoveries.  Indeed  we  can  scarcely 
doubt  that  ultimately  our  knowledge  of  the  effects  of 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

various  drugs  upon  different  tissues  of  the  body  will 
be  given  a  specific  character  that  could  hardly  have 
been  attained  by  any  previously  known  method  of 
experimentation. 

Another  application  of  the  knowledge  that  tissues 
cut  from  excised  organs  may  retain  vitality  for  con- 
siderable periods,  was  made  recently  by  a  Paris 
surgeon,  who  restored  partial  sight  to  a  blind  man 
by  excising  a  portion  of  the  opaque  cornea  of  his  eye 
and  replacing  it  with  a  piece  of  cornea  of  like  size 
cut  from  an  enucleated  eye  that  had  been  kept  for 
some  days  in  a  refrigerator.  The  operation  was  suc- 
cessful, in  that  the  fragment  of  cornea  took  kindly  to 
its  new  surroundings  and  grew  permanently  into 
place,  retaining  its  transparency.  It  would  be  hazard- 
ous to  fix  bounds  to  the  transplantations  of  tissues 
that  will  be  effected  by  the  surgeon  of  the  future. 
Even  now,  as  it  appears,  it  is  possible  to  relieve  a  con- 
dition of  blindness  that  is  very  common,  and  which 
hitherto  has  been  considered  incurable. 

There  is  one  other  aspect  of  the  experiment  of 
growing  tissues  outside  the  body  which  suggests 
possibilities  even  more  bizarre  and  startling.  I  refer 
to  the  tests  which  show  that  the  embryo  of  a  chicken 
may  be  removed  from  the  egg  and  caused,  for  a  time 
at  least,  to  continue  its  development  in  the  culture 
medium.  Similar  tests  were  made  with  fragments  of 
animal  embryos.  The  embryos,  to  be  sure,  did  not 
come  to  maturity;  but  the  fact  that  they  lived  and! 
grew  for  a  time  suggests  astounding  possibilities  for 
the  method  when  it  is  perfected. 

It  would  seem  to  be  within  the  possibilities  that 

168 


JUGGLING    WITH    LIFE 

the  method  may  ultimately  be  so  perfected  that 
embryos  of  all  kinds,  including  the  human,  could  be 
grown  in  culture  media  in  the  incubator. 

Should  this  expectation  be  fulfilled,  the  woman  of 
the  future  may  be  emancipated  from  the  primal  curse 
that  her  maternal  ancestors  have  borne  since  bi- 
sexual organisms  were  evolved.  What  this  final  feat 
of  life-juggling  might  mean  to  humanity,  I  leave  for 
the  reader's  imagination  to  suggest. 

12 


VI 

THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 


as  to  the  origin  of  man  are  always 
fascinating.  The  broad  general  proposition  that 
man  is  an  evolutionary  product  and  has  lineage,  could 
we  trace  it,  extending  down  to  the  lowest  forms  of 
life,  is  so  firmly  established,  thanks  to  Darwin  and  his 
successors,  that  it  now  seems  almost  axiomatic. 
That  the  mammals,  with  man  at  their  head,  represent 
an  offshoot  from  stock  that  includes  in  their  collateral 
channels  reptiles  and  birds,  and  as  a  more  primitive 
division,  amphibia  and  fishes,  is  matter  of  elementary 
zoology  nowadays,  though  it  issued  from  the  realm 
of  heresy  an'd  controversy  within  the  memory  of 
people  who  are  not  yet  old. 

But  the  question  as  to  the  precise  stock  from  which 
the  most  primitive  of  our  vertebrate  ancestors  sprang 
has  reached  no  such  stage  of  accepted  solution. 
Therefore  the  newest  attempt  to  answer  this  question 
has  aroused  no  little  commotion  in  the  biological 
world,  and  will  doubtless  be  heard  of  presently  in 
unscientific  circles.  The  author  of  the  new  theory  is 
Professor  William  Patten,  of  Dartmouth  College. 
Stated  in  a  word,  his  theory  is  that  the  direct  ances- 
tors of  the  vertebrates  —  the  missing  link  between 
the  highest  type  of  animate  beings  and  the  lower 

170 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

orders — is  to  be  sought  in  a  particular  tribe  of  crea- 
tures called  Arachnids,  of  which  the  spiders, 
scorpions,  and  mites  are  the  most  familiar  examples. 
Making  a  very  popular  paraphrase,  we  may  perhaps 
say  that  Professor  Patten's  theory  suggests — though 
he  of  course,  would  not  phrase  it  precisely  this  way 
— that  man,  in  common  with  his  vertebrate  relatives, 
is  a  modified  spider  or  scorpion. 

It  must  be  explained  at  once  that  Professor  Patten 
does  not  suggest  that  any  vertebrate  has  been  de- 
veloped through  modification  or  adaptation  of  the 
structure  of  any  existing  form  of  spider  or  scorpion. 
What  is  suggested  is  that  at  a  very  ancient  period  a 
form  of  life  existed  which  was  destined  to  supply  the 
common  ancestry  of  spiders  and  their  allies  and  of 
all  the  vertebrates.  These  creatures,  according  to 
Professor  Patten's  theory,  were  marine  arachnids, 
of  a  type  known  as  sea  scorpions.  They  were  con- 
fessedly the  most  highly  organized  animals  of  their 
time;  and  Professor  Patten  believes  that  in  due 
course  their  descendants  were  modified  to  form  a 
very  interesting  type  of  creature  called  an  ostra- 
coderm,  which  in  turn  gave  rise  to  the  fishes  or  first 
true  vertebrates.  Professor  Patten  thinks  that  this 
theory,  if  demonstrated,  will  lead  to  the  most  radical 
change  in  the  classification  of  the  animal  kingdom 
that  has  taken  place  since  the  time  of  the  great  com- 
parative anatomists  Cuvier  and  Lamarck.  He  thinks 
that  the  whole  story  of  the  evolution  of  the  verte- 
brate stock,  which  has  hitherto  been  veiled  in 
mystery,  should  become  an  open  book,  since  the 
material  for  its  reading  is  abundant  and  accessible. 

171 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

It  may  be  well  to  recall  that  it  was  Lamarck  who 
originated  the  terms  vertebrate  and  invertebrate  and 
called  attention  to  the  all-importance  of  the  spinal 
column  as  a  feature  of  animal  morphology  just  at 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century;  and  that 
Cuvier  soon  afterward  divided  the  entire  invertebrate 
population  of  the  globe  into  articulates,  mollusks, 
and  radiates,  familiar  examples  of  these  divisions 
being  insects,  the  oyster,  and  the  star  fish.  This 
classification  was  accepted  for  the  better  part  of  a 
century,  but  in  recent  years  students  of  the  great 
company  of  invertebrates  have  thought  further  sub- 
divisions desirable,  and  it  is  now  recognized  that 
animate  beings  have  developed  along  at  least  seven 
or  eight  divergent  lines,  though  all  springing  from 
the  same  primordial  root. 

It  is  nowadays  considered  a  broader  view  to  think 
of  the  great  major  groups  of  animals — let  us  say 
coelenterates,  echinoderms,  worms,  arthropode,  mol- 
lusks, brachiopods,  and  vertebrates — as  being  each 
more  or  less  perfect  of  its  kind,  rather  to  be  likened 
to  the  various  branches  of  a  spreading  tree  than  to 
be  rated  in  serial  order  one  above  the  other. 

In  this  view  the  distinction  between  Vertebrates 
and  Invertebrates  loses  a  good  deal  of  its  early  signifi- 
cance. The  total  vertebrate  population  of  the  globe 
is  after  all  a  mere  handful  contrasted  with  the  myri- 
ads of  individuals,  and  scores  of  thousands  of 
species,  of  invertebrate  forms.  Nevertheless  it  is 
natural  from  a  human  standpoint  to  regard  the  verte- 
brates as  the  highest  and  finest  branch  of  the  tree; 
though  it  is  comprehensible  that  from  the  standpoint, 

172 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

let  us  say,  of  the  ant  the  question  might  seem  debat- 
able. Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  assuredly  not  unnatural 
that  man  should  be  supremely  interested  in  the  ques- 
tion of  his  own  ancestry;  hence  the  assiduity  with 
which  zoologists  have  sought  to  ascertain  what  man- 
ner of  creature  it  was  from  which  the  lowest 
vertebrate  directly  sprang.  It  is  this  question,  as 
already  intimated,  which  Professor  Patten  now  thinks 
himself  able  to  answer. 

THE  TRUE  MISSING  LINK 

The  primitive  ostracoderms  which  Professor  Patten 
now  brings  into  the  limelight,  so  to  speak,  had  been 
known  for  a  good  many  years  as  obscure  fossils 
found  in  strata  of  the  so-called  Silurian  period;  but 
no  one  had  ascribed  great  importance  to  them  until  it 
occurred  to  Professor  Patten  that  the  location  of  the 
remains  of  these  creatures  in  strata  just  above  the 
fossil  sea  scorpions  and  just  below  the  earliest 
fishes,  taken  with  the  peculiar  formation  of  the  ostra- 
coderms themselves,  suggested  that  the  sea  scorpions, 
the  ostracoderms,  and  the  fishes,  "represent  three  suc- 
cessive stages  in  the  evolution  of  the  animal  kingdom, 
just  as  in  the  later  periods  the  fishes,  the  amphibia, 
and  the  mammals  represent  successive  stages  in  the 
evolution  of  the  vertebrates." 

This  is  equivalent  to  suggesting  that  the  ostra- 
coderms are  the  true  link  between  vertebrates  and 
invertebrates,  which  the  classifiers  had  hitherto  so 
vainly  sought. 

In  attempting  to  satisfy  himself  as  to  the  validity 
of  his  theory,  Professor  Patten  has  searched  far  and 

173 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

wide  for  fossil  specimens  that  would  reveal  details 
as  to  the  structure  of  the  ostracoderms.  His  visits  to 
the  best  zoological  collections  of  Europe  gave  a  good 
deal  of  information  but  left  much  to  be  desired.  He 
then  began  the  systematic  searching  of  certain  strata 
of  fossil-bearing  rocks  at  the  Bay  of  Chaleur  in  Can- 
ada. Here  fragments  of  fossils  were  found  on  the 
beach  at  low  tide,  or  could  be  obtained  by  splitting 
open  disk-shaped  nodules  that  had  washed  from  the 
adjacent  cliff.  To  secure  perfect  specimens  it  was 
necessary  to  make  excavations  in  the  face  of  the 
cliff  itself.  For  four  successive  summers  this  work 
was  carried  on,  many  tons  of  rock  being  dug  out  and 
split  open,  before  a  rich  fossil  bed  was  discovered. 

The  exploration  of  this  bed  proved  hazardous  as 
masses  of  rock  fell  from  time  to  time  from  the 
crumbling  cliffs.  But  the  excavation  was  continued, 
and  the  bed  was  found  literally  to  teem  with  the 
remains  of  a  particular  species  of  ostracoderm 
(Eothriolepis  Canadensis)  in  a  state  of  preservation 
more  complete  and  instructive,  Professor  Patten 
thinks,  than  that  of  any  other  fossil  found  hereto- 
fore. In  a  recent  article  in  "The  Popular  Science 
Monthly,"  Professor  Patten  gives  a  vivid  description 
of  the  finding  of  this  fossil  bed,  and  a  most  interest- 
ing account  of  the  probable  way  in  which  it  was 
formed,  way  back  in  a  romote  geological  era. 

"The  bed  had  apparently  formed  the  bottom  of  a 
shallow  brackish  water-pool  in  which  fern-like  water 
plants  had  been  growing,  and  where  many  millions 
of  years  ago,  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tides,  these 
specimens  had  been  trapped,  together  with  other 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

species   of  ostracoderms  and   several   kinds  of  true 
fishes. 

"The  soft  mud  on  the  bottom  of  the  pool  was  now 
turned  into  a  fine-grained,  sandy  limestone,  and  in 
it  the  fossilized  animals  were  preserved  in  the  very 
attitudes  they  had  assumed  when  they  ceased  to 
struggle  out  of  the  enclosure.  One  in  its  death 
agony,  had  plunged  into  the  mud  with  sufficient 
force  to  remain  there,  head  down,  in  a  vertical  posi- 
tion. Others  were  arranged  in  horizontal  series, 
uniformly  headed  in  a  northeast  direction.  Their 
heads  were  turned  against  a  gentle  current  of  water, 
as  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  tops  of  all  the  ferns 
were  pointed  in  nearly  the  opposite  direction." 

Some  of  these  specimens  were  so  well  preserved 
that  the  shape  of  the  body  and  many  details  of  its 
external  surface  could  readily  be  observed.  More- 
over, when  the  specimens -had  been  transported  to 
the  laboratory  and  there  laboriously  cut  into  sec- 
tions with  the  diamond  saw,  and  the  sections  pol- 
ished and  varnished,  the  arrangement  of  the  internal 
organs  was  also  revealed.  And  it  is  the  study  of 
these  specimens  which  leads  Professor  Patten  now 
to  declare  with  much  confidence  that  the  ostraco- 
derms were  neither  vertebrates  nor  invertebrates, 
but  a  class  intermediate  between  the  two:  "In  fact, 
the  real  missing  links  in  the  animal  kingdom.  The 
posterior  part  of  the  body  was  membraneous  and 
decidedly  fish-like  in  shape;  but  the  contour  of  the 
whole  animal,  especially  the  head,  the  natural  ap- 
pendages, the  eyes,  and  the  mode  of  locomotion, 
were  more  like  those  of  the  marine  scorpions.  The 

175 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

gill  or  atrial  chamber,  and  the  structure  of  the  dermal 
skeleton  were  intermediate  in  character.  But  the 
most  important  features  of  all  were  the  long-sought- 
for  mouth  parts  or  jaws.  They  were  paired,  consist- 
ing of  four  separate  jaws,  which  in  chewing  or  biting 
moved  to  and  from  a  median  line,  like  the  jaws  of 
all  known  arthropods.  They  were  not  unpaired 
arches  moving  forward  and  backward  as  tney  had  in 
all  true  vertebrates." 

The  character  of  the  mouth,  then,  allies  the  ostra- 
coderm  to  the  tribe  of  spiders  and  scorpions  rather 
than  to  the  vertebrates.  But  it  chances  that  studies 
of  the  embryos  of  vertebrates,  say  of  a  frog,  show 
that  at  its  earlier  stages  of  development  each  indi- 
vidual vertebrate  passes  through  a  stage  in  which 
its  jaws  have  the  character  of  the  jaws  of  the  ostra- 
coderm.  Inasmuch  as  it  is  an  accepted  thesis  of  bi- 
ology that  the  embryo  of  a  higher  organism  repro- 
duces in  epitome  the  history  of  racial  evolution,  this 
seems  clearly  to  imply  that  the  developing  verte- 
brates in  point  of  fact  passed  through  a  stage  in 
which  their  mouths  were  like  the  mouth  of  the  ostra- 
coderm. 

There  are  many  other  points  of  the  embryological 
story  which  are  equally  suggestive,  but  which  have 
explicit  meaning  only  for  the  trained  anatomist. 
Suffice  it  that  Professor  Patten  is  convinced  that  the 
facts  of  embryology  go  hand  in  hand  with  his  studies 
of  the  fossils  in  giving  support  to  his  theory  of  the 
arachnid  origin  of  the  vertebrates.  Needless  to  say, 
the  theory  will  not  be  accepted  without  controversy. 
But  pending  further  investigation,  we  are  justified 

176 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

in  looking  upon  the  ostracoderm  as  a  probable  direct 
ancestor  of  man,  and  by  the  same  token  we  must 
acknowledge  a  possible  racial  affinity  with  the  great 
tribe  of  spiders  and  scorpions  which  the  instinctive 
attitude  of  mind  of  most  people  toward  those  crea- 
tures would  not  have  suggested. 

So  much  for  the  popular  point  of  view.  In  con- 
clusion, as  showing  the  technical  importance  of  the 
work,  let  me  quote  a  brief  paragraph  or  two  from 
a  letter  which  gives  a  glimpse  of  the  method  of  the 
worker  and  the  importance  of  the  problem  attacked. 
"The  work  through  which  the  theory  has  been  de- 
veloped," says  Professor  Patten,  "covers  a  period  of 
about  twenty-five  years,  and  consists  of  many  special 
investigations,  involving  elaborate  details  in  tech- 
nique and  subject-matter,  in  such  widely  separated 
fields  as  comparative  anatomy,  embryology,  physi- 
ology, and  palaeontology,  of  both  vertebrates  and 
invertebrates.  The  problem  as  a  whole  is  the  most 
important  one — to  the  biologist — since  the  general 
acceptance  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution.  It  has  been 
tried  in  many  different  ways — by  the  most  dis- 
tinguished morphologists  of  England,  Germany, 
France,  and  Russia.  If  this  solution  of  it  is  even 
approximately  correct — it  is  already  conceded  to  be 
'truly  monumental  work/  'the  best  solution  avail- 
able/ 'the  most  comprehensive  one  that  has  been 
offered' — it  will  revolutionize  the  science  of  com- 
parative anatomy  and  embryology,  and  lay  the 
foundation  for  a  new  philosophy  of  creative  evolu- 
tion." 

Let  me  add  that,  whatever  the  outcome,  the  solu.- 

177 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

tion  of  the  problem  is  a  new  and  highly  interesting 
one.  The  originality,  breadth  of  treatment,  accuracy, 
and  technical  skill  of  the  author  are  not  questioned. 
Whether  in  the  end  his  theory  be  accepted  or  re- 
jected, it  will  remain  a  creditable  product  of  Ameri- 
can scholarship. 

EVOLUTION  THROUGH  NATURAL  SELECTION 

Such  studies  as  this  show  that  speculation  as  to 
the  precise  line  of  man's  early  ancestry  has  been  by  * 
no  means  idle.  Yet  it  is  doubtless  true  that  the  main 
body  of  biological  workers  of  the  present  generation 
are  chiefly  concerned  not  with  the  origin  of  the  main 
stem  itself,  but  with  the  forces  that  have  been  at 
work  in  modifying  the  descendants.  And  in  very 
recent  years  a  vast  amount  of  information  has  been 
gathered  regarding  the  influences  through  which 
vegetable  and  animal  organisms  may  be  modified. 
Already  important  applications  of  this  knowledge  are 
being  made,  and  it  is  probable  that  vastly  more  im- 
portant ones  will  be  made  in  the  not  distant  future, 
which  will  vitally  influence  the  well-being  of  the  hu- 
man race. 

To  understand  the  bearings  of  the  new  knowledge 
we  must  first  very  briefly  review  the  essential  ideas 
connected  with  the  Darwinian  conception  of  the 
origin  of  species. 

The  essence  of  the  Darwinian  doctrine  is  the  idea 
that  evolution  has  taken  place  through  the  preserva- 
tion of  what  Darwin  spoke  of  as  favored  races.  The 
struggle  for  existence  is  everywhere  hard,  and  only 
a  very  small  proportion  of  creatures  born  into  the 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

world  can  attain  maturity  and  propagate  their  kind. 
A  plant  may  produce  a  hundred  thousand  seeds.  If 
all  came  to  maturity  and  reproduced  their  kind  in 
like  measure,  every  square  inch  of  the  earth's  surface 
would  be  covered  with  the  descendants  of  this  single 
plant  in  a  very  few  years.  Similarly  a  codfish  may 
lay  a  million  eggs.  If  all  hatched  and  the  offspring 
propagated  normally,  the  mass  of  codfish  produced 
in  a  century  would  surround  the  earth  in  a  solid  body, 
reaching  out  in  every  direction  well  toward  the  orbit 
of  the  moon.  The  progeny  of  one  fly  in  a  single 
summer,  if  it  lived  and  propagated  normally,  would 
amount  to  several  million  bushels  of  flies.  The 
progeny  of  a  single  human  pair  in  the  time  since  the 
discovery  of  America  might  readily  enough  give  us 
our  population  of  a  hundred  million  individuals. 

So  it  is  obvious  that  the  actual  rate  of  increase  of 
any  given  plant  or  animal  or  human  family  can  be 
but  a  very  trifling  fraction  of  the  normal  or  nominal 
increase;  and  the  reason  is  simply  that  the  conditions 
of  life  are  more  or  less  unfavorable  for  every  race, 
chiefly  owing  to  the  competition  of  the  members  of 
the  same  or  of  other  races.  This  is  what  is  meant 
by  the  phrase  "struggle  for  existence"  as  applied  by 
the  evolutionist.  The  phrase  applies  equally  well  to 
the  lowest  plant  and  to  the  highest  animal. 

In  the  case  of  plant  and  animal  alike  the  individual 
that  differs  slightly  from  its  fellows  in  some  favorable 
direction  is  obviously  the  one  likely  to  be  preserved. 
Such  an  individual  will  tend  to  transmit  its  inherent 
peculiarities,  and  its  descendants  will  constitute  a 
favored  race. 

i79 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

This  process  of  the  weeding  out  of  the  unfit, 
through  survival  and  dominance  of  the  relatively  fit, 
Darwin  spoke  of  as  natural  selection.  The  doctrine 
presupposes  that  individuals  of  a  species  do  vary 
from  one  another,  but  Darwin  made  no  attempt  to 
explain  such  varieties.  He  recognized  of  course  that 
all  variations  must  be  due  to  the  operation  of  natural 
laws;  but  he  recognized  also  that  we  are  at  present 
in  ignorance  as  to  the  exact  character  of  these  laws. 
So  he  confessedly  begged  the  question  by  speaking 
of  the  divergence  between  different  mmbers  of  the 
same  species  as  constituting  "spontaneous"  variation. 

That  such  variations  occur  is  matter  of  every-day 
observation.  In  point  of  fact  no  two  individuals  of 
any  species  are  absolutely  identical,  so  that  varia- 
tion may  be  said  to  be  the  undeviating  rule  rather 
than  the  exception.  As  any  given  variation  must, 
obviously,  be  in  some  degree  either  favorable  or  un- 
favorable to  the  individual,  it  would  appear  as  if  the 
materials  for  the  operation  of  natural  selection  are 
ever  present,  and  as  if  each  species  might  be  sup- 
posed to  be  in  a  state  of  slow  but  constant  fluctua- 
tion. The  accumulation  of  slight  variations,  passed 
on  from  one  generation  to  another,  was  supposed 
to  account,  granted  time  enough,  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  divergent  forms  of  life  that  are  observed 
to  people  the  world, — from  the  single-celled  pro- 
tozoon  to  man. 

THE  NEW  THEORY  OF  MUTATION 

Let  it  be  said  once  for  all  that  this  Darwinian  idea 
of  the  origin  of  species  through  natural  selection, 

180 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

stands  to-day  unchallenged  in  its  broad  essentials. 
It  is  the  one  only  explanation  of  the  development  of 
races  that  adequately  explains  the  known  facts.  It 
is  essential  that  this  should  be  stated  clearly,  because 
we  hear  a  great  deal  nowadays  of  sundry  schools  of 
evolutionists  who  appear  to  be  disputing  the  Dar- 
winian principles.  It  is  therefore  not  superfluous  to 
assure  the  general  reader  that,  in  so  far  as  these 
various  disputants  speak  with  any  measure  of  author- 
ity, their  disputes  concern  details  as  to  the  evolu- 
tionary processes,  and  do  not  put  in  jeopardy  the 
fundamental  Darwinian  conceptions. 

The  name  of  Darwin  stands  to-day  as  it  has  stood 
for  half  a  century,  supreme  and  unchallenged,  as  that 
of  the  champion  and  expounder  of  the  most  impor- 
tant biological  doctrine  that  has  ever  been  put  for- 
ward in  the  history  of  science. 

There  are  certain  very  important  details,  however, 
regarding  which  the  recent  observers  have  explained 
and  interpreted  the  Darwinian  doctrine.  The  most 
striking  of  these  has  led  to  the  introduction  of  the 
theory  of  so-called  evolution  by  mutation. 

The  import  of  this  theory  is  simply  that  the 
"spontaneous"  variations  through  which  favored 
races  are  produced  may  be  of  a  much  more  pro- 
nounced character  than  had  generally  been  assumed. 
The  immediate  followers  of  Darwin  had  generally 
thought  of  the  variations  between  individuals  of  a 
species  as  being  very  slight  in  degree,  so  that  the 
cumulative  effect  of  many  slight  variations,  extend- 
ing over  multitudes  of  generations,  would  be  neces- 
sary to  produce  a  radically  new  type  of  animal  or 

181 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

plant.  If  the  divergent  forms  that  now  exist — in- 
sects, fish,  reptiles,  birds,  mammals — have  indeed 
been  produced  from  the  same  lowly  common  ances- 
tors by  such  slow  processes  of  variation,  the  time 
required  for  the  evolution  of  existing  races  must  ob- 
viously be  enormously  long. 

Some  students  of  the  earth's  rocky  structure  have 
doubted  that  the  actual  lapse  of  geological  ages  is 
sufficient  to  justify  the  theory  of  evolution  through 
the  cumulative  effect  of  slight  variations.  Geological 
time  is  assuredly  long;  but  is  it  long  enough?  The 
biologists  said  that  it  must  be;  many  geologists  de- 
nied that  it  could  be. 

A  possible  solution  of  the  controversy  has  recently 
been  found  in  a  modification  of  the  Darwinian  theory 
suggested  by  Professor  Hugo  de  Vries,  of  Amster- 
dam. The  studies  of  this  far-sighted  experimental 
botanist  convinced  him  that  the  "spontaneous  varia- 
tions" on  which  evolution  works  are  often  much 
more  pronounced  deviations  from  "type"  than  had 
usually  been  assumed.  From  seed-pods  of  the  same 
plant  may  come  individual  plants  that  differ  among 
themselves  not  only  slightly,  but  sometimes  very 
radically.  In  exceptional  cases,  as  Professor  de  Vries 
discovered,  the  deviation  may  be  so  marked  that  one 
of  the  plants  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  constituting 
a  new  race  or  "elementary"  species.  Such  a  depar- 
ture from  type,  developed  suddenly  in  a  single  gen- 
eration, Professor  de  Vries  spoke  of  as  "mutation." 

The  plant  which  furnished  the  most  striking  evi- 
dence for  the  new  mutation  theory  was  found  by 
Professor  de  Vries  near  Amsterdam.  It  is  a  species 

182 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

known  as  the  Evening  Primrose,  a  plant  familiar  as 
a  roadside  weed  in  the  United  States,  where  it  is  in- 
digenous. The  specimens  growing  in  the  fields  near 
Amsterdam  are  the  descendants  of  plants  originally 
brought  from  America. 

It  would  appear  that  the  evening  primrose  has  a 
peculiar  and  characteristic  propensity  to  vary  in 
type;  and  it  is  probable  that  this  propensity  to  vary 
has  been  accentuated  by  some  obscure  influence  of 
changed  nutritional  conditions  due  to  the  European 
soil.  In  any  event,  Professor  de  Vries  observed  that 
plants  seemingly  the  offspring  of  the  same  parent 
plant,  differ  very  widely  among  themselves. 

Gathering  seed  and  experimenting  in  his  botanical 
garden.at  Amsterdam,  De  Vries  was  able  to  develop, 
in  the  course  of  successive  generations,  no  fewer  than 
twelve  races  of  evening  primrose  from  a  common 
stock. 

The  experiments  involved  the  planting  of  many 
thousands  of  seeds  with  elaborate  precautions  against 
cross-fertilization.  But  the  results'  were  unequivocal. 
A  dwarf  form  of  evening  primrose  might  be  the  off- 
spring of  a  giant  form;  and  the  dwarf,  sprung  into 
being  in  a  single  generation,  would  breed  true. 

In  other  words,  a  new  race,  differing  so  widely 
from  the  old  that  it  might  justly  be  termed  a  new 
species,  was  observed  to  develop  in  a  single  genera- 
tion. Thus  the  necessity  for  assuming  that  evolution 
has  proceeded  only  through  the  natural  selection  of 
minute  variations,  was  done  away  with.  It  was  made 
clear  that  Nature  might  supply  by  mutation  widely 
divergent  types  through  which  natural  selection 

183 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

eould  operate  to  produce  new  species.  Thus  the 
transformation  from,  let  us  say,  a  tall  to  a  dwarf 
species  of  evening  primrose,  instead  of  requiring 
centuries  might  take  place  in  a  single  year. 

Although  the  evening  primrose  is  the  only  plant 
in  which  such  marked  mutations  have  been  observed, 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  other  plants,  and 
animals  as  well,  may  show  similar  tendency  to 
marked  variations  under  exceptional  circumstances 
(for  example,  through  changed  environment).  So 
the  evolutionary  process  might  go  on  with  incom- 
parably greater  rapidity  than  had  been  supposed 
possible  without  involving  any  force  more  mys- 
terious than  the  accepted  Darwinian  principle  of 
"natural  selection"  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 
Thus  any  dispute  about  the  adequacy  of  geological 
time  was  shown  to  be  unnecessary. 

THE  PRODUCTION  OF  MUTANTS 

It  must  be  observed  that  the  sudden  variations 
which  produced  Professor  de  Vries'  new  species  of 
evening  primrose  may  be  spoken  of  as  "spontaneous" 
in  the  original  Darwinian  use  of  the  word.  No  one 
can  explain,  except  in  the  most  general  terms,  why 
certain  individual  plants  depart  from  their  hereditary 
type  in  so  striking  a  manner.  In  general  terms,  how- 
ever, it  might  be  said  that  the  mutation  is  doubtless 
due  to  some  changes  of  nutrition.  In  recent  years 
a  large  number  of  experimenters  have  been  at  work 
endeavoring  to  ascertain  what  manner  of  influence 
may  be  instrumental  in  causing  such  mutations  as  are 
observed  to  occur. 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

A  certain  measure  of  success  has  attended  these 
experiments.  For  example,  Dr.  D.  T.  MacDougal 
has  treated  the  ovaries  of  the  evening  primrose 
flower  with  various  chemicals,  and  the  seeds  from 
flowers  thus  treated  sometimes  produce  plants  en- 
tirely different  from  the  mother  plant.  Professor 
C.  S.  Gager  has  gained  corresponding  results  by 
treating  the  pollen  of  plants  with  radium.  Professor 
T.  H.  Morgan  has  similarly  subjected  the  eggs  of  a 
certain  fly  called  Drosophila  to  the  influence  of  ra- 
dium, and  has  produced  individuals  differing  in 
some  striking  respects  from  their  parents.  One,  for 
example,  had  very  short  wings,  and  it  was  found  that 
these  short-winged  mutants  bred  true  for  successive 
generations. 

Professor  Jacques  Loeb,  in  association  with  Mr. 
F.  W.  Bancroft,  has  experimented  with  the  same 
species  of  fly,  to  see  what  effect  might  be  pro- 
duced by  subjecting  the  insect  to  high  temperature. 
The  flies  were  bred  in  a  thermostat,  the  temperature 
of  which  was  kept  constant  within  one  degree  of  30.5 
degrees  Centigrade.  Under  these  circumstances,  in 
the  fifth  generation  a  number  of  dark  flies  appeared, 
and  it  was  found  that  this  dark  variety  constituted 
a  permanent  race.  Subsequent  experiments,  how- 
ever, showed  that  the  influence  of  temperature  did 
not  necessarily  produce  dark  mutants.  Experiments 
with  radium  were  also  somewhat  indeterminate, 
although  divergent  forms — dark  races,  pink-eyed, 
white-eyed,  and  short-winged  forms — were  some- 
times produced. 

Professor  W.  L.  Tower,  in  experiments  with  bee- 
13  185 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

ties,  has  produced  equally  striking  and  rather  more 
definite  results.  By  subjecting  the  eggs  of  the 
beetles  to  different  degrees  of  temperature  and 
moisture  from  those  in  which  they  usually  live,  he 
was  able  to  produce  certain  color  mutations  at  desire. 
These  and  similar  experiments  made  it  seem 
probable  that  new  races  of  plants  and  animals  have 
appeared  through  mutations  in  the  past  and  are  likely 
to  appear  at  any  time  when  through  voluntary  or 
involuntary  migration  a  species  of  animal  or  plant 
is  brought  under  the  influence  of  a  changed  environ- 
ment. But  the  development  of  the  new  race,  though 
we  may  suppose  it  to  be  much  more  rapid  than  had 
hitherto  been  imagined,  need  not  depend  upon  any 
principles  divergent  from  those  which  Darwin  orig- 
inally expounded. 

THE  WORK  OF  LUTHER  BURBANK 

Doubtless  the  greatest  practical  demonstrator  of 
the  truth  of  the  Darwinian  theories  of  heredity  is  Mr. 
Luther  Burbank,  the  famous  developer  of  new  vari- 
eties of  plants.  Mr.  Burbank's  work,  which  began 
when  he  was  a  young  man  in  New  England,  and 
which  has  been  carried  on  for  the  past  forty  odd 
years  at  Santa  Rosa,  California,  has  included  practical 
experiments  with  hundreds  of  species  of  plants,  the 
number  of  his  carefully  gauged  and  recorded  experi- 
ments running  into  the  hundreds  of  thousands. 

Every  one  has  heard  more  or  less  of  the  results 
achieved  by  this  wizard  among  plant  experimentors. 
His  first  important  results  were  obtained  with  the 
potato,  which  he  raised  from  the  seed,  thereby  pro- 

186 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

ducing  a  new  variety  of  exceptional  size  and  quality. 
The  potato,  as  every  one  knows,  is  ordinarily  reared 
from  the  tuber  and  it  has  almost  lost  the  habit  of 
producing  seeds.  Thus  it  fails  to  benefit  by  the  cross 
fertilization  that  has  such  an  invigorating  effect  upon 
most  species  of  plants.  Occasionally,  however,  the 
potato  does  produce  a  seed-ball,  and  it  was  by  ex- 
perimenting with  such  an  exceptional  find  that  Mr. 
Burbank  produced  his  first  new  variety  of  vegetable 
and,  incidentally,  discovered  his  true  bent. 

In  California  Mr.  Burbank  has  gone  from  one 
achievement  to  another,  until  the  list  of  new  flowers, 
vegetables,  and  fruits  that  he  has  developed  extends 
to  bewildering  lengths.  By  crossing  the  Japanese 
plum  with  an  American  plum  he  produced  the  fine 
fruit  that  has  revolutionized  the  prune  industry  in 
California.  By  crossing  the  plum  and  apricot  he  pro- 
duced a  fruit  that  he  calls  the  "plumcot,"  which,  if 
discovered  in  a  state  of  nature,  would  be  regarded  as 
a  new  species;  a  fruit  that  combines  the  qualities  of 
both  of  its  progenitors.  He  has  produced  walnuts 
with  shells  so  thin  that  a  bird  can  easily  penetrate 
them,  and  then  from  these  has  developed  others  with 
slightly  thicker  shells  to  remedy  the  defect.  He  has 
stimulated  the  growth  of  trees  until  he  can  show 
walnuts  that  bear  within  eighteen  montfis  from  the 
time  the  nut  is  planted, — whereas  ordinarily  the  tree 
required  eighteen  or  twenty  years  to  attain  maturity. 

Working  with  flowers,  Mr.  Burbank  has  given  a 
sweet  scent  to  the  calla  lily;  has  produced  three  al- 
together different  poppies  from  a  single  parent  stock; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  has  combined  the  qualities  of 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

three  species  of  daisies  to  produce  the  new  "Shasta" 
daisy  which,  judged  by  its  form  and  color,  would  itself 
rank  as  an  individual  species. 

Experimenting  in  another  direction  with  fruits,  he 
has  produced  plums  that  have  no  stones,  and  cherries 
for  canning  purposes  that  leave  the  stone  on  the  tree 
when  picked.  He  has  been  able  to  breed  the  thorns 
off  the  raspberry  and  blackberry  bushes  and  to  pro- 
duce a  white  .blackberry  which  was  originally  as 
great  a  novelty  as  a  white  blackbird,  but  which  now 
is  no  longer  rare. 

Yet  another  achievement  has  consisted  in  develop- 
ing a  race  of  spineless  cactus,  which  now  breeds  true 
and  which  is  supplying  the  deserts  with  a  new  forage 
food. 

All  this  and  much  more  in  kind  Mr.  Burbank  has 
accomplished  through  application  of  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  selection.  "The  begining  and  the  end  in  plant 
breeding,"  he  says,  "is  selection.  First  the  selection 
of  varieties  as  nature  presents  them  to  us;  second, 
improvement  of  these  varieties,  and  combinations  to 
produce  still  other  varieties,  and  then — still  further 
selection." 

Here,  then,  is  the  Darwinian  principle  applied  with 
the  aid  of  human  intelligence  to  accomplish  rapidly 
the  changes  that  Nature  could  accomplish  only  in 
long  periods  of  time.  But  in  making  the  selections, 
Mr.  Burbank  is  aided  by  powers  of  observation  and 
by  intuitions  that  place  him  quite  in  a  class  by  him- 
self. Mr.  Burbank  has  said  that  Darwin  was  one  of 
the  best  observers  that  ever  lived.  The  same  remark 
might  be  applied  to  Mr.  Burbank  himself.  He  is  able 

188 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

to  note  differences  between  various  specimens  of  a 
plant  that  to  the  ordinary  observer  are  unrecogniz- 
able and  his  original  intuition,  aided  by  long  years  of 
experience,  enables  him  to  select  the  one  specimen 
among  thousands  that  will  lead  him  straight  to  the 
mark.  So  he  succeeds  where  a  less  skillful  experi- 
menter might  fail  utterly. 

Then,  too,  he  has  those  other  essential  character- 
istics of  the  successful  man,  untiring  energy  and  un- 
bounded patience.  Where  another  experimentor 
tries,  for  example,  to  effect  the  hybridization  of  two 
species  and  after  three  or  four  failures  give  up  the 
effort,  Mr.  Burbank  goes  on  with  scores  or  hundreds 
of  experiments  until  at  last  he  achieves  success.  It 
is  thus  that  he  has  been  able  to  break  down  the 
barriers  that  seem  to  lie  between  different  species  and 
to  give  practical  demonstration  to  the  fact,  which 
philosophical  biologists  have  more  and  more  clearly 
recognized  in  theory,  that  the  word  "species"  is  a 
term  invented  for  human  convenience  rather  than  the 
expression  of  anything  fundamental  in  nature. 

But  from  first  to  last,  let  it  be  repeated,  Mr.  Bur- 
bank  operates  by  selecting  what  nature  has  supplied. 
Aside  from  the  bringing  out  of  latent  qualities 
through  cross  fertilization,  he  makes  no  claim  to 
create  characteristics,  or  to  do  anything  beyond  bring- 
ing into  the  foreground  propensities  that  have  been 
subordinated  in  a  given  plant.  At  most,  he  unites  old 
traits  into  new  combinations.  By  shrewd  prevision 
and  intelligent  management  he  virtually  creates  new 
species  in  a  few  years;  but  his  entire  method  of  work 
is  a  practical  exemplification  of  the  methods  through 

189 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

which  species  have  slowly  been  developed  in  the  state 
of  nature  in  the  long  periods  of  the  past. 

Mr.  Burbank  has  been  known  to  speak  of  "taming 
a  wild  plant,  and  training  it  so  that  it  will  break  into 
new  habits  and  forms/'  In  such  "training"  he  de- 
pends in  part  upon  the  influence  of  changed  environ- 
ment and  very  largely  upon  introducing  new  tenden- 
cies by  cross  fertilization.  In  the  practical  combining 
or  fixing  of  traits,  adjusted  now  to  the  artificial  envi- 
ronment of  man's  creation,  Mr.  Burbank  has  had 
wider  experience,  doubtless,  than  any  other  experi- 
mentor.  The  net  result  of  all  his  observations  is  to 
fortify  his  conviction  that  Darwin's  conception  of 
heredity  was  comprehensive  and  profound.  And 
with  this  conclusion  authoritative  biologists  every- 
where are  in  full  accord. 

THE  NEW  THEORY  OF  MENDELISM 

There  is,  however,  a  new  application  of  the  laws 
of  heredity  as  applied  to  the  mingling  of  divergent 
races,  with  which  Darwin  was  not  familiar,  and 
which  many  biologists  of  to-day  believe  to  be  of 
supreme  importance.  This  is  the  theory  which,  after 
the  name  of  its  promulgator,  is  known  as  Mendelism. 

Mendelism:  the  word  is  one  to  remember.  No 
other  word  is  used  quite  so  frequently  by  the  biolog- 
ical workers  of  our  time.  It  is  a  word  that  promises 
to  vie  with  the  word  Darwinism  in  its  bearing  on  the 
doctrines  of  heredity  as  applied  to  the  animal  world, 
including  man  himself.  It  has  not  yet  had  time  to 
make  its  way  into  the  popular  vocabulary,  but  it 
promises  soon  to  attain  that  distinction. 

190 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

Gregor  Mendel,  the  Austro-Silesian  priest,  lived 
the  life  of  an  obscure  abbot  in  the  cloister  of  Briinn, 
and  died  in  1884,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one,  absolutely 
unknown  to  fame.  To-day  his  name  is  mentioned 
almost  reverentially  by  a  host  of  biologists  all  over 
the  world,  and  it  is  felt  by  many  that  his  niche  in  the 
temple  of  fame  must  be  side  by  side  with  that  of 
Charles  Darwin.  One  of  the  most  philosophical  biol- 
ogists of  our  time  has  said  that  he  dates  the  birth 
of  scientific  biology  from  the  year  1863;  in  which 
Mendel  published  in  an  obscure  periodical  the  first 
account  of  his  researches, — an  account  to  which  no 
one  paid  the  slightest  attention  at  the  time  or  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  thereafter. 

The  entire  history  of  science  shows  no  other  case 
quite  comparable  to  this.  Posterity  frequently 
enough  juggles  with  reputations  and  refuses  to  re- 
member men  who  achieved  wide  reputation  while 
they  lived.  But  I  recall  no  other  case  in  which  a 
man  who  lived  and  died  unknown  to  fame,  seemingly 
without  making  an  impress  on  the  thought  of  his 
generation,  has  been  glorified  by  the  immediately 
succeeding  generation.  So  the  case  of  the  Abbot  of 
Briinn  has  peculiar  significance  even  for  that  part 
of  the  world  which  takes  no  interest  in  affairs  scien- 
tific. 

What,  then,  was  the  scientific  achievement  which 
gave  this  obscure  priest  such  astonishing  measure 
of  posthumous  fame?  The  answer  will  doubtless 
surprise  the  reader  who  chances  not  to  have  heard 
the  story.  The  achievement,  which  by  common  con- 
sent of  present-day  biologists  was  really  a  mo- 

191 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

mentous  one,  consisted  in  the  main  of  a  series  of 
careful  observations  on  the  cultivation  of  ordinary 
eating  peas  in  the  garden  of  the  cloister  of  Briinn. 

It  will  readily  be  understood,  after  what  has  been 
said,  that  Mendel's  observations  in  regard  to  his  peas 
were  something  quite  out  of  the  ordinary.  His  re- 
sults were  indeed  extraordinary  to-  a  degree.  Yet 
like  many  extraordinary  things  they  had  the  merit 
of  great  simplicity.  The  essential  element  of  their 
success  depended  on  keen  observation  and  the  capac- 
ity to  make  painstaking  experiments,  and  to  note  the 
results  of  these  experiments  with  accuracy  and  im- 
partiality. 

There  was  nothing  in  the  experiments  themselves 
that  may  not  readily  be  duplicated  by  any  one  who 
has  a  small  garden  plot  and  is  willing  to  devote  a 
certain  amount  of  time  to  the  cultivation  of  peas. 

Mendel's  crucial  experiments  were  based  on  the 
observation  that  different  varieties  of  the  garden  pea 
show  different  qualities  of  vine  and  flower  and  seed- 
pod  and  seed  that  may  be  grouped  or  contrasted  in 
antagonistic  pairs.  For  example,  the  vines  may  be 
tall  or  dwarfed.  The  flowers  may  be  purple  or  white. 
The  pods  may  be  smooth  or  hairy.  The  peas  them- 
selves may  be  smooth  or  wrinkled  in  contour,  and 
green  or  yellow  in  color.  These  divergent  qualities 
may  be  variously  intermingled.  That  is  to  say,  white 
flowers,  for  example,  are  not  confined  to  either  a  tall 
or  dwarfed  vine;  and  the  same  is  true  of  each  of  the 
other  qualities.  But  a  given  variety  of  pea,  once 
fixed  as  such,  would  show  a  certain  combination  of 
qualities.  One  variety,  for  example,  would  have  a 

192 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

high  vine,  with  white  flowers,  smooth  pods,  and 
wrinkled  yellow  peas.  Another  variety  would  pre- 
sent some  other  combination  of  these  various  quali- 
ties. Mendel  came  to  think  of  the  various  qualities 
as  "unit  characters,"  susceptible  of  being  transmitted 
unchanged  from  parent  to  offspring.  And  he  pres- 
ently discovered  some  very  curious  facts  about  the 
manner  of  their  transmission.  He  found  that  oppos- 
ing characters — say  tallness  versus  dwarfness — al- 
ways act  in  the  same  way  toward  each  other  in 
inheritance. 

If  you  cross-fertilize  tall-vined  and  short-vined 
peas,  for  example,  the  hybrids  of  the  first  generation 
will  all  be  tall.  In  Mendel's  phrase,  tallness  is  a 
"dominant"  quality  and  shortness  a  "recessive"  qual- 
ity. But  if  the  tall  hybrids  are  now  self-fertilized,  as 
is  normal  with  the  pea,  their  offspring  will  be  partly 
tall  and  partly  short, — in  proportion  of  three  of  the 
former  to  one  of  the  latter  on  the  average.  And  in 
the  next  generation,  the  offspring  of  this  short  vine 
will  all  be  short;  the  offspring  of  one  of  the  tall  vines 
will  all  be  tall;  and  the  offspring  of  the  other  two 
tall  vines  will  be  partly  tall  and  partly  short  in  the 
proportion  of  three  to  one. 

This  formula  will  be  repeated  over  and  over  in 
successive  generations.  No  matter  how  often  the 
experiment  is  repeated,  the  results  are  always  the 
same:  in  the  first  filial  generation  all  the  offspring 
show  the  "dominant"  trait,  the  "recessive"  trait  be- 
ing repressed  but  not  organically  obliterated.  In 
the  second  filial  generation,  we  have  one  pure  dom- 
inant, like  the  tall  ancestor,  one  pure  recessive,  like 

193 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

the  short  ancestor,  and  two  that  are  mixed  domi- 
nants, like  their  parents. 

What  holds  for  tallness  and  shortness  holds  also 
for  each  opposing  pair  of  unit  characters.  Yellow 
seeds,  for  example,  are  dominant  to  green  seeds; 
all  hybrids  of  the  first  generation  show  yellow  seeds; 
but  of  their  offspring,  one  in  four  will  show  the  re- 
cessive trait  of  greenness  of  seed,  and  will  breed  true 
to  that  trait  generation  after  generation,  quite  as  if 
there  had  been  no  strain  of  yellow  seeds  in  its  an- 
cestry. 

Add  that  the  different  pairs  of  unit  characters  hold 
their  respective  qualities  of  dominance  or  of  reces- 
siveness  regardless  of  association  with  other  charac- 
ters, and  we  see  that  the  manifestations  of  Mendelian 
heredity  may  be  exceedingly  diversified,  yet  that  a 
clear  understanding  of  "Mendel's  Law"  as  just  out- 
lined may  make  their  interpretation  clear  where 
without  this  knowledge  for  a  guide  they  might  seem 
exceedingly  mystifying.  Professor  R.  G.  Punnett, 
of  Cambridge  University,  gives  a  simple  but  effective 
illustration  of  the  way  in  which  a  knowledge  of  Men- 
del's law  might  aid  a  practical  breeder.  He  supposes 
the  case  of  a  gardener  who  has  two  varieties  of  plant 
each  possessing  a  desirable  character  and  who  wishes 
to  combine  these  characters  in  a  third  form: 

"He  may,  for  example,  possess  tall  green-seeded 
and  dwarf  yellow-seeded  peas,  and  may  wish  to  raise 
a  strain  of  green  dwarfs.  He  makes  his  cross — and 
nothing  but  tall  yellows  result.  At  first  sight  he 
would  appear  to  be  further  than  ever  from  his  end, 
for  the  hybrids  differ  more  from  the  plant  at  which 

194 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

he  is  aiming  than  did  either  of  the  original  parents. 
Nevertheless,  if  he  sow  the  seeds  of  these  hybrids 
he  may  look  forward  with  confidence  to  the  appear- 
ance of  the  dwarf  green.  And  owing  to  the  recessive 
nature  of  both  greenness  and  dwarfness,  he  can  be 
certain  for  further  generations  the  dwarf  greens  thus 
produced  will  come  true  to  type.  The  green  dwarfs 
are  all  fixed  as  soon  as  they  appear,  and  will  throw 
neither  tails  nor  yellows.  The  less  the  hybrid  re- 
sembles the  form  at  which  the  breeder  aims,  the 
more  likely  is  that  form  to  breed  true  when  it  ap- 
pears in  the  next  generation." 

PRACTICAL  APPLICATION  OF  MENDEL*S  LAW 

Mendel's  experiments  and  discoveries  were  made 
as  early  as  1863.  But  no  one  knew  of  his  work  until 
the  rediscovery  of  the  essential  facts  was  made  by 
Professor  Hugo  de  Vries  of  Amsterdam  about  the 
year  1900.  Professor  de  Vries  may  be  said  to  have 
discovered  Mendel,  sixteen  years  after  the  abbot's 
death.  Largely  through  the  championship  of  the 
famous  Amsterdam  botanist,  the  new  theory  of 
heredity,  which  came  to  be  known  as  Mendelism, 
made  its  way  rapidly. 

A  host  of  biologists — prominent  among  whom  in 
this  country  were  Professor  Jacques  Loeb,  now  of 
the  Rockefeller  Institute,  and  Professor  Castle  of 
Harvard — undertook  experiments  that  are  calculated 
to  test  the  new  theories  of  heredity  from  many  an- 
gles, and  a  great  variety  of  corroborative  evidence 
was  soon  in  hand.  It  is  essential  that  any  one  who 
would  understand  the  bearing  of  the  laws  of  hered- 

195 


MIRACLES'    OF    SCIENCE 

ity  on  the  breeding  of  a  better  human  race  should 
understand  the  essentials  of  what  may  be  called  the 
Mendelian  formula.  An  illustration  drawn  from  the 
animal  world  will  present  this  perhaps  more  vividly 
than  the  case  of  the  peas.  If  a  black  guinea  pig  of 
a  pure  black  strain  is  mated  with  a  white  guinea  pig, 
as  in  Professor  Castle's  experiment,  all  the  offspring 
will  be  black.  This  shows  that  black  and  white,  as 
applied  to  the  hair  of  the  guinea  pig,  are  unit  char- 
acters, and  that  the  black  color  is  dominant.  But 
if  these  black  guinea  pigs  of  the  second  generation 
are  allowed  to  inter-breed,  three  out  of  four  of  the 
offspring  will  be  black,  and  the  fourth  will  be  pure 
white.  Further  breeding  experiments  will  show  that 
of  the  three  black  guinea  pigs  of  this  third  genera- 
tion, one  is  pure  black,  and  will  have  offspring  only 
of  its  own  color;  whereas  the  other  two  are  "mixed 
dominants,"  and  will  have  one  in  four  of  their 
progeny  pure  white. 

If  we  were  to  label  the  four  guinea  pigs  of  the  third 
generation  A,  B,  C,  and  D  (A,  B,  and  C,  being  black, 
and  D  white)  we  shall  state  the  Mendelian  formula  in 
its  simplest  aspect  if  we  say  that  A  is  a  pure  domi- 
nant, and  will  have  nothing  but  black  descendants; 
and  that  D  is  a  pure  recessive  and  will  have  nothing 
but  white  descendants;  whereas  B  and  C  are  mixed 
dominants  and  will  have  descendants  that  will  dupli- 
cate the  A,  B,  C,  and  D  formula  over  and  over. 

A  clear  understanding  of  this  simple  formula  gives 
an  explanation  of  many  observed  facts  of  heredity 
that  were  formerly  mysterious.  For  example,  Profes- 
sor Punnett  was  able  to  explain  anomalies  in  the 

196 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

breeding  of  the  barnyard  fowl  that  had  been  very 
puzzling.  In  particular  he  explained  certain  peculiar- 
ities of  the  Andalusian  breed,  which  is  sometimes 
black,  sometimes  white  with  black  splotches,  and 
sometimes  slate  blue.  Professor  Punnett  showed  that 
the  blue  variety,  which  is  the  one  prized  by  breeders, 
is  in  reality  due  to  the  crossing  of  the  black  variety 
with  the  white,  whiteness  acting  as  a  recessive  char- 
acter which  is  bound  to  reappear  in  the  offspring  of 
the  blue  fowl.  And  in  point  of  fact,  when  the  blues 
are  interbred,  one  quarter  of  the  offspring  are  black 
and  one  quarter  are  white,  just  as  the  Mendelian 
formula  requires.  So  the  only  sure  way  to  secure  a 
full  clutch  of  blue  fowl  is  to  breed  fowls  that  are  not 
blue. 

Another  interesting  study  in  Mendelian  heredity, 
conducted  at  Cambridge  by  Professor  T.  B.  Wood, 
has  to  do  with  sheep.  By  application  of  Mendelian 
principles,  it  has  been  found  possible  to  cross  a  horned 
and  a  hornless  variety  of  a  race  of  sheep,  in  such  a  way 
as  to  do  away  with  the  horns  and  yet  retain  the  qual- 
ities of  the  horned  ancestor.  Thus  crossing  a  black- 
faced  Suffolk  ram  with  a  white-faced  ewe  of  the 
horned  Dorset  breed  produces  animals  with  speckled 
faces,  of  which  the  males  are  horned  and  the  ewes 
hornless.  But  the  succeeding  generation  produces  in- 
dividuals combining  the  white  face  of  the  Dorset  with 
the  hornless  face  of  the  Suffolk;  and  a  permanent 
breed  is  established  in  this  expeditious  manner. 

Doubtless  the  most  important  economic  application 
of  the  Mendelian  experiment  that  has  yet  been  made, 
however,  has  been  effected  by  Professor  R.  F.  Biffin, 

197 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

also  of  Cambridge  University.  Professor  Biffin's 
experiments  have  had  to  do  with  the  different  races 
of  wheat.  England,  in  common  with  other  countries, 
has  suffered  tremendously  from  the  pest  known  as 
rust.  This  is  a  fungus  growth,  which  attacks  the  stem 
of  the  wheat  plant  and  saps  its  vitality.  It  has  been 
estimated  that  the  annual  loss  to  the  wheat  crops  of 
the  world  from  this  little  fungus  is  not  less  than  five 
hundred  million  dollars.  But  no  method  of  combat- 
ting the  pest  proved  effective. 

It  has  long  been  observed,  however,  that  there  are 
certain  varieties  of  wheat  that  are  practically  im- 
mune to  the  attack  of  a  given  variety  of  rust  fungus. 
But  unfortunately  this  immune  variety  of  wheat, 
while  having  a  strong  stalk,  produces  very  little  grain, 
and  that  of  an  inferior  quality.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  varieties  producing  the  finest  qualities  of  grain 
have  shown  peculiar  susceptibility  to  the  rust.  It 
occurred  to  Professor  Biffin  that  it  might  be  possible 
to  hybridize  these  two  races,  along  Mendelian  lines. 
His  tests  soon  convinced  him  that  susceptibility  and 
immunity  to  rust  are  a  pair  of  Mendelian  characters, 
of  which  susceptibility  is  dominant.  When,  therefore, 
he  hybridized  a  susceptible  and  an  immune  wheat 
plant,  he  produced  seed  from  which  grew  plants  that 
were  all  susceptible  to  the  rust.  But  in  the  following 
generation  appeared  the  expected  proportion,  one- 
fourth,  of  plants  showing  the  recessive  quality, — 
which  in  this  case  was  the  desired  immunity.  So 
the  upshot  of  his  experiments  was  that  he  developed 
in  the  course  of  a  few  years'  experimentation  a  race 
of  wheat  producing  a  larger  yield  of  grain  of  fine 

198 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

quality  and  a  stalk  immune  to  the  particular  type  of 
rust  which  is  especially  prevalent  in  England. 

Thus  the  work  performed  half  a  century  ago  by  the 
obscure  Abbot  of  Brimn  in  the  garden  of  his  cloister 
may  result  in  an  annual  saving  to  the  world  of  half 
a  billion  dollars  through  the  application  of  the  laws 
he  discovered  to  the  breeding  of  a  single. plant.  But 
this  after  all  is  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the 
benefit  that  must  accrue  when  the  new  laws  of 
heredity  are  applied  to  the  human  subject. 

HEREDITY  AND  THE  HUMAN  RACE 

We  have  seen  that  the  new  heredity  deals  with 
unit  characters.  Unfortunately,  it  is  not  always  pos- 
sible to  say  off-hand  whether  any  given  human  trait 
of  mind  or  body  is  a  unit  character.  Many  traits  that 
seem  simple  are  in  reality  very  complex,  and  their 
laws  of  transmission  cannot  be  reduced  to  a  simple 
formula.  It  is  necessary  that  each  trait  shall  be 
subjected  to  scrutiny.  Such  investigations  are  being 
made  to-day  along  diverse  lines  both  in  Europe  and 
America.  At  the  Galton  Institute  of  Eugenics,  in 
London,  Professor  Karl  Pearson  and  his  associates 
are  studying  Egyptian  skulls  from  the  Catacombs  on 
one  hand,  and  the  hereditary  tendencies  of  modern 
school  children  on  the  other.  In  America,  Professor 
Charles  B.  Davenport,  as  director  of  the  Department 
of  Experimental  Evolution  of  the  Carnegie  Institute, 
is  gathering  genealogical  records  that  already  supply 
important  data  about  the  transmission  of  a  large 
number  of  both  normal  and  diseased  conditions. 

Until  we  have  much  fuller  information  than  is  as 

199 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

yet  available,  it  would  be  folly  to  say  that  we  have 
full  data  for  directing  the  marriage  of  human  beings. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  possible  to  draw  some 
very  practical  conclusions  with  regard  to  the  subject 
even  now.  The  new  science  which  Francis  Galton 
christened  "Eugenics"  is  in  its  infancy,  but  its  prog- 
ress will  be  far  more  rapid  than  it  could  have  been 
had  not  the  principles  of  Mendelian  inheritance  been 
discovered.  From  the  remotest  times  it  has  been 
matter  of  familiar  observation  that  both  good  and 
bad  qualities  of  parents  are  likely  to  be  transmitted 
to  their  offspring.  The  familiar  saying  that  like 
begets  like,  and  various  equally  familiar  Biblical 
phrases  about  the  sins  of  parents,  illustrate  the  fact 
that  the  general  facts  of  heredity  are  common  knowl- 
edge. But  the  matter  assumes  a  novel  aspect  in  the 
light  of  the  new  investigations. 

It  had  been  taken  for  granted  that  the  traits  of  two 
parents  tend  to  blend  in  their  offspring,  and  that  any 
particular  quality  which  was  prominent  in  an  indi- 
vidual would  presently  become  blended  with  other 
qualities  in  his  descendants.  But  the  new  studies  of 
heredity  show  that  there  are  many  characteristics  of 
both  body  and  mind  that  do  not  tend  thus  to  become 
modified  through  blending,  but  which  may  seem 
altogether  to  disappear  in  any  given  generation,  or 
even  for  successive  generations,  and  yet  re-appear 
with  full  force  in  a  remote  descendant.  In  the  words 
of  Professor  Charles  B.  Davenport,  "After  a  score  of 
generations  the  given  characteristic  may  still  appear 
unaffected  by  the  repeated  unions  of  foreign  germ 
plasm." 

200 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

Being  interpreted,  this  means  that  each  individual 
bears  within  his  system  and  may  transmit  to  his 
descendants  a  multitude  of  characteristics  that  he 
gives  no  evidence  of  having,  and  of  which  he  is  quite 
unconscious.  This  seems  paradoxical,  but  it  is  matter 
of  demonstration  as  regards  a  great  variety  of  traits. 
A  simple  illustration  drawn  from  a  familiar  physical 
characteristic  will  illustrate  the  point.  Let  us  take 
the  matter  of  the  color  of  eyes.  It  appears  that  if  a 
person  of  a  racial  or  family  strain  having  dark  brown 
or  black  eyes  marries  a  person  with  blue  eyes,  the 
offspring  of  the  first  generation  will  all  have  dark 
eyes.  But  these  dark-eyed  individuals,  intermarrying, 
may  have  a  certain  proportion  of  blue-eyed  offspring. 
Thus  the  tendency  to  blue  eyes  was  a  latent  char- 
acteristic in  the  dark-eyed  individuals  of  the  second 
generation,  though  there  was  nothing  to  indicate 
this  that  even  the  most  searching  examination  of 
their  eyes  by  an  expert  would  have  revealed. 

Following  Mendel,  the  student  of  heredity,  noting 
the  fact  that  when  black  eyes  are  mated  with  blue 
eyes  the  progeny  all  have  black  eyes,  names  the 
black-eyed  condition  as  "dominant"  or  positive  and 
the  blue-eyed  condition  as  "recessive,"  or  negative. 
The  essential  characteristic  of  the  dominant  trait,  it 
will  be  recalled,  is  that  it  seems  to  override  and  ob- 
literate the  antagonistic  recessive  trait  in  a  given 
generation.  But  the  all-important  quality  of  the  re- 
cessive trait  is  its  capacity  to  lie  dormant  and  alto- 
gether indistinguishable  in  a  generation,  or  often  in 
successive  generations,  and  yet  ultimately  to  re- 
appear seemingly  quite  unaffected  by  its  long  sup- 
14  201 


MIRACLES'    OF    SCIENCE 

pression.  Once  it  does  re-appear,  however,  it  "breeds 
true."  Blue  eyes  mated  with  blue  eyes,  for  example, 
always  produce  blue  eyes. 

The  principles  revealed  in  this  matter  of  the 
heredity  vagaries  of  eye-color  are  of  supreme  im- 
portance. Not  that  eye-color  in  itself  particularly 
matters;  but  there  are  various  bodily  and  mental 
characteristics  of  vast  significance  that  follow  the 
same  laws  of  heredity.  Such  traits,  even  though 
complex,  seem  often  to  act  in  inheritance  as  "unit 
characters."  If  the  character  is  of  a  positive  nature 
(for  example,  bodily  strength  or  vitality),  it  acts  as 
a  "dominant"  in  heredity;  if  negative  (that  is  to  say, 
due  to  the  lack  of  something)  it  acts  as  a  "recessive" 
trait.  Thus  eyes  are  dark  when  the  iris  has  a  certain 
layer  of  pigment;  and  dark  eyes,  as  we  saw,  are 
dominant.  Contrariwise,  eyes  are  blue  when  they 
lack  this  layer  of  pigment,  and  blue  eyes  are  recessive 
in  the  scheme  of  heredity.  Similarly  many  diseases 
seem  to  be  due  to  a  lack  of  something;  insanity  to  a 
lack  of  nervous  stability;  consumption  to  a  lack  of 
resistance  to  the  tubercle  bacillus,  etc. 

So  we  find  that  insanity  and  the  tendency  to  con- 
sumption act  as  recessive  traits  in  inheritance.  The 
practical  bearing  of  this  on  the  most  vital  of  all 
human  actions — the  choice  of  a  marriage  partner — 
may  be  made  clear  by  a  few  specific  illustrations, 
chiefly  drawn  from  Professor  Davenport's  records. 

HEREDITY  AND  EUGENICS 

There  are,  it  appears,  various  forms  of  physical 
disease  that  may  disappear  in  one  generation  and 

202 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

reappear  in  another  just  as  does  the  blue  eye  pigment 
or  the  white  coat  of  the  guinea  pig.  Thus,  atrophy 
of  the  optic  nerve,  which  leads  to  total  and  incurable 
blindness,  may  run  through  a  family  strain,  appear- 
ing in  one  generation  and  disappearing  in  the  next. 
So  a  person  who  has  no  eye  defect,  but  who  belongs 
to  a  family  having  this  defect,  may  transmit  the 
tendency;  and  the  blindness  of  his  children  may  with 
full  propriety  be  ascribed  to  heredity  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  both  parents  had  normal  eyes.  The 
same  thing  is  true  of  various  other  eye  defects,  in- 
cluding a  very  distressing  anomaly  known  as  colo- 
boma,  marked  by  a  defect  of  the  iris  and  an  open 
suture  running  right  through  the  ball  of  the  eye 
from  the  pupil  to  the  optic  nerve. 

Professor  Davenport  gives  charts  showing  pedi- 
grees of  families  having  this  painful  malformation  of 
the  eye.  One  such  chart  shows  that  a  man  having 
the  defect  married  a  normal  woman,  and  of  their 
two  children  the  boy  had  the  defect  and  the  girl  was 
normal.  The  boy  married  a  normal  woman  and  their 
only  son  inherited  the  eye  defect.  The  daughter, 
whose  eyes  were  normal,  married  a  normal  man;  of 
their  offspring,  seven  in  number,  three  sons  had  the 
defect,  and  one  son  and  the  three  daughters  were 
normal.  Another  chart  shows  the  defect  appearing 
in  a  second  and  fifth  generation,  having  skipped  two 
full  generations.  But  in  this  case,  the  marriage  of 
cousins,  introducing  the  defective  strain  from  both 
sides,  and  as  it  were,  doubling  its  influence,  probably 
accounts  for  the  reappearance  of  the  malady  in  the 
great-grandchildren  of  the  afflicted  person. 

203 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

Some  of  the  eye  diseases  show  a  curious  tendency 
to  what  is  called  crossed  heredity;  that  is  to  say,  the 
defect  is  transmitted  from  father  to  daughter,  or 
from  mother  to  son.  Thus,  color  blind  men  do  not 
have  color  blind  sons,  and  as  a  rule  their  daughters 
are  also  normal.  But  these  normal  daughters,  mar- 
ried to  men  of  normal  stock,  have  color  blind  sons. 
Of  course  color  blindness  is  not  a  defect  of  such 
seriousness  that  the  danger  of  transmitting  it  need 
be  taken  greatly  into  account  in  the  choice  of  a 
marriage  partner.  But  the  opposite  is  true  of  a  good 
many  eye  defects,  including  atrophy  of  the  optic 
nerve  and  the  anomaly  of  the  iris  already  mentioned. 
Certainly  no  one  is  justified  in  producing  offspring 
having  a  strong  liability  to  become  totally  blind  in 
early  life. 

The  studies  of  these  cases  have  proceeded  so  far 
that  Professor  Davenport  is  able  to  lay  down  some 
pretty  definite  rules  that  are  of  the  utmost  interest 
and  importance.  As  to  the  dangers  of  heredity  in  a 
family  any  member  of  which  is  known  to  have  been 
afflicted  with  the  eye  defect  called  coloboma,  the  rule 
is  this:  "No  female  with  the  coloboma  defect  should 
have  children,  since  all  sons  will  be  defective  in  the 
structure  of  the  pupil.  For  males  with  the  defect 
the  danger  in  marriage  is  also  great,  for  either  all 
or  half  of  the  sons  of  such  a  father,  although  married 
to  a  woman  from  a  normal  strain,  will  be  defective, 
but  the  daughters  will  not  be  defective  in  this  respect 
unless  the  wife  belongs  to  a  strain  with  this  defect." 

For  families  having  the  tendency  to  atrophy  of  the 
optic  nerve  the  rule  given  is  this:  "a  normal  son  of 

204 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

an  abnormal  male  may  marry  quite  outside  the 
family  with  impunity,  but  a  normal  daughter  may 
transmit  the  defect  to  her  sons.  But  such  a  woman 
may  marry  with  impunity  if  all  of  her  brothers  are 
without  defect  and  there  are  more  than  two  of  them. 
A  defective  male  should  abstain  from  having  chil- 
dren, for  some  of  his  sons,  at  least,  will  probably  be 
defective." 

The  principle  that  a  person  belonging  to  a  family 
in  which  any  conspicuous  physical  infirmity  is  heredi- 
tary should  religiously  avoid  marrying  into  another 
family  having  the  same  defect  is  one  that  cannot  be 
too  forcibly  insisted  on.  Indeed,  with  regard  to  a 
large  number  of  defects  this  might  be  said  to  be  the 
crux  of  the  entire  matter.  A  good  illustration  is 
found  in  the  infirmity  of  congenital  deafness.  It 
would  appear  that  the  congenital  defect  that  produces 
deaf-mutism  acts  as  a  recessive  trait,  and  thus  it 
may  come  to  pass  that  a  deaf  mute  married  to  a 
normal  person  has  normal  children;  normality  show- 
ing the  same  dominance  here  that  is  shown  by  black- 
ness in  the  case  of  the  guinea  pig  and  dark  eyes  as 
against  blue  eyes. 

But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  both  parents  are  con- 
genitally  deaf,  it  was  found  by  Fay  that  26  per  cent, 
of  the  offspring  are  deaf.  When  the  partners  belong 
to  the  same  deaf  mute  strain — that  is  to  say  are  re- 
lated— the  percentage  of  marriage  yielding  deaf 
mute  offspring  rises  to  45,  and  the  proportion  of 
deaf  offspring  to  30  per  cent.  Moreover  the  closer 
the  relationship  of  the  parents  the  larger  the  pro- 
portion of  deaf  children.  Among  the  cases  investigat- 

205 


MIRACLES'    OF    SCIENCE 

ed,  when  the  parents  were  first  or  second  cousins, 
the  proportion  of  deaf  offspring  was  34.6  per  cent. ; 
and  in  one  case  in  which  the  marriage  partners  were 
nephew  and  aunt,  75  per  cent,  of  the  children  were 
deaf. 

Of  similar  import  are  the  facts  regarding  the  in- 
heritance of  the  condition  that  leads  to  mental  over- 
throw. Of  course  insanity  as  such  is  not  heritable, 
but  the  instability  of  the  nervous  system  that  makes 
one  liable  to  mental  overthrow  is  very  pronouncedly 
heritable.  Doctors  Cannon  and  Rosanoff  have  made 
careful  investigations  of  the  families  of  patients  at  the 
King's  Park  State  Hospital  for  the  Insane.  Omit- 
ting a  certain  class  of  "organic"  cases,  they  found  in 
all  the  cases  recorded  that  when  both  parents  had 
any  form  of  insanity  all  of  the  children  sooner  or  later 
became  insane.  If  one  parent  is  insane  and  the  other 
normal  but  of  insane  stock,  half  of  the  children  tend 
to  become  insane.  What  is  still  more  significant,  per- 
haps, from  our  present  standpoint  is  the  fact  that 
when  both  parents,  though  themselves  normal,  belong 
to  an  insane  stock,  about  one  fourth  of  the  children 
becomes  insane.  Dr.  H.  H.  Goddard  in  his  studies 
of  the  defective  children  at  Vineland  finds  similar 
facts  regarding  the  heredity  of  the  feeble  minded. 

These  are  facts  of  the  utmost  practical  importance. 
Few  other  afflictions  are  more  lamentable  thaii  men- 
tal overthrow,  and  no  rightminded  person  could  con- 
template with  composure  the  thought  of  producing 
offspring  foredoomed  to  become  insane.  So  no 
person  in  whose  family  there  is  a  strain  of  insanity, 
near  or  remote,  should  contemplate  matrimony  with- 

206 


THE    CREATION    OF    SPECIES 

out  giving  these  facts  close  consideration.  The 
hopeful  feature  of  the  matter  is  that  the  person  even 
of  bad  heredity  may  marry  with  relative  impunity 
if  he  is  quite  certain  that  the  marriage  partner  se- 
lected is  of  altogether  normal  stock.  The  great 
difficulty  is  to  ascertain  the  facts.  It  is  not  enough 
to  make  sure  of  individual  normality;  the  parents 
and  grandparents  of  the  individual,  and  if  possible 
the  remoter  ancestors  must  be  considered;  and  it  is 
desirable  also  to  investigate  the  collateral  strains  as 
evidenced  by  uncles  and  aunts  and  cousins.  Such  an 
investigation  would  often  prove  difficult.  But  when 
we  reflect  on  the  care  with  which  breeders  of  animals 
trace  and  guard  the  pedigrees  of  their  select  stocks 
of  dogs  and  cattle  and  horses,  it  seems  not  too  much 
to  hope  that  some  day  men  and  women  may  be  will- 
ing to  safeguard  the  interests  of  their  own  progeny 
with  at  least  as  much  assiduity. 

•  Such  illustrations  as  those  just  given  will  serve 
to  show  the  eminently  practical  character  of  the  new 
eugenic  movement.  It  is  obvious  that  the  individual 
interests  of  every  intelligent  person  are  directly  con- 
cerned. This  is  no  academic  question;  it  is  a  question 
that  concerns  the  man  in  the  street.  It  concerns  our 
offspring  and  the  generation  in  which  they  will  live 
and  have  their  being.  It  concerns  the  entire  trend 
of  future  civilization.  To  have  gained  such  clear 
glimpses  of  the  natural  laws  that  govern  human 
inheritance  and  to  have  formulated  some  clear  rules 
for  their  interpretation,  are  not  the  least  among  the 
remarkable  achievements  of  our  generation. 


VII 

MASTERING    THE    MICROBE 
MICROBES  AND  VACCINES 

SIR  Almroth  Wright,  the  famous  originator  of 
the  anti-typhoid  vaccine,  pointed  out  in  a  recent 
address  that  nine-tenths  of  human  diseases  are  minor 
ills  due  to  microbic  infection.  Most  of  us,  he  declares, 
have  one  or  another  particular  microbe  as  an  enemy 
to  which  we  are  peculiarly  susceptible. 

"Thus,"  says  Sir  Almroth,  "one  man  puts  up  with 
recurrent  influenza  attacks,  another  man  with  a  suc- 
cession of  boils,  another  man  with  chronic  bronchitis, 
another  with  perpetual  trouble  in  the  roots  of  his 
teeth,  another  with  a  continuous  discharge  from  the 
ear,  another  with  sycosis  or  acne,  another  with  con- 
tinual pruritis,  another  with  tuberculous  glands,  an- 
other with  phthisis,  another  with  recurrent  intestinal 
attacks,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  gamut." 

And  then  the  great  therapeutist  makes  this  cheer- 
ing summary:  "Vaccine  therapy  will,  I  believe,  help 
every  man  to  keep  under  the  particular  microbe 
which  besets  him." 

In  other  words,  each  of  us  may  expect  in  the  near 
future  to  be  able  to  give  himself  immunity  against 
the  germ  that  is,  so  to  say,  his  pet  aversion.  Indeed, 
to  a  very  considerabe  extent  this  may  be  done  even 

208 


MASTERING    THE     MICROBE 

now,  thanks  to  the  new  vaccine  treatment  which 
Sir  Almroth  Wright  and  his  associates  have  elaborat- 
ed. The  essential  idea  of  this  treatment  is  a  curious 
one.  It  is  to  let  any  given  individual  render  himself 
immune  to  a  given  disease  by  developing  antidotal 
bodies  in  his  own  system.  The  development  of  such 
antidotes  is  brought  about  by  inoculating  the  patient 
with  limited  quantities  of  disease  germs  that  have 
been  killed  by  heating. 

The  earliest  important  application  of  this  idea  was 
made  by  Professor  Wright  in  connection  with  pre- 
ventive inoculations  against  typhoid  fever.  It  had 
been  suggested  by  Mr.  Haskine  that  preventive  in- 
oculations might  be  attempted  along  Pasteurian 
lines, — that  is  to  say,  with  living  germs ;  but  this 
seemed  hazardous.  Then  Professor  R.  Pfeiffer  show- 
ed that  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  a  heated  culture 
of  typhoid  germs  produced  a  "specific  agglutination 
reaction"  in  man ;  and  this  at  once  gave  Wright  a 
clue  which  he  followed  up  with  wonderful  tenacity, 
and  with  the  ultimate  effect  of  supplying  medical 
science  with  a  new  and  effective  therapeutic  weapon. 

"The  physician  of  the  future  will  be  an  immuni- 
zator,"  Wright  boldly  prophesied  when  he  made  his 
first  announcement  of  experiments  with  typhoid  in- 
oculations in  1902.  In  the  intervening  decade,  the 
prophecy  has  been  so  carried  toward  fulfillment  that 
an  increasing  number  of  conservative  physicians  all 
over  the  world  will  echo  the  words  of  Dr.  William 
H.  Thompson,  who  says  of  what  he  terms  the  new 
science  of  Vaccine  Therapy:  "The  more  I  see  of  this 
recent  recourse  against  microbic  infections,  the  more 

209 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

I  feel  convinced  that  its  discovery  is  to  mark  a  great 
era  in  medicine." 

PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  NEW  METHOD 

The  method  itself  has  features  of  picturesque  inter- 
est aside  from  the  importance  of  its  results.  In  prin- 
ciple the  rationale  of  the  method  is  simple  enough, 
though  of  course  a  considerable  degree  of  bacterio- 
logical skill  is  necessary  in  practice. 

The  essence  of  the  method  is  this:  To  cultivate 
the  germs  of  a  given  disease  in  a  culture  tube;  to 
kill  them  by  heating  to  about  60  degrees  Centigrade ; 
and  to  inject  a  small  quantity  of  the  culture,  incorpo- 
rating a  rather  definite  number  of  dead  germs,  with 
a  hypodermic  syringe  into  the  tissues  of  the  person 
who  is  to  be  made  immune  to  disease. 

But  how,  it  may  be  asked,  can  good  results  accrue 
to  an  individual  through  the  wilful  introduction  into 
his  system  of  the  germs  of  disease? 

The  answer  supplies  us  a  clue  to  the  entire  mystery 
of  immunity.  To  understand  it  we  must  note  a  re- 
markable property  of  the  body  tissues.  It  appears 
that  one  extraordinary  characteristic  of  the  cells  of 
living  animal  tissue  is  this:  They  attempt  to  repel 
any  attack  made  upon  them  by  producing  an  antidotal 
substance  specifically  calculated  to  neutralize  or  op- 
pose the  attacking  agent. 

If  a  noxious  bacterium  finds  its  way  into  the  blood 
and  comes  in  contact  with  the  tissues,  the  tissue  cells 
(an'd  also  probably  the  white  blood  corpuscles)  at 
once  endeavor  to  produce  substances  that  will  an- 
tagonize that  particular  bacterium  in  several  char- 

210 


ANTI-TYPHOID   INOCULATION 


MASTERING    THE     MICROBE 

acteristic  ways.  These  substances  are  so-called  (1) 
anti-toxines  that  neutralize  the  bacterial  poison;  (2) 
bactericides  that  tend  to  kill  the  bacterium;  (3) 
bacteriolysins  that  tend  to  dissolve  it;  (4)  agglutinins 
that  interfere  with  its  activities;  and  (5)  opsonins 
that  make  it  an  easy  prey  for  the  white  blood  cor- 
puscles that  constitute  Nature's  body  guard  of 
soldiers  everywhere  patrolling  the  blood. 

These"  "anti-bodies,"  various  and  sundry,  are  so 
intangible  that  the  chemist  cannot  as  yet  analyze 
them.  Yet  they  make  their  presence  felt  by  very 
definite  results.  A  different  set  of  these  antidotes 
is  produced  in  opposition  to  each  particular  kind  of 
noxious  microbe.  If  the  tissues  are  able  to  produce 
them  fast  enough  in  any  given  case,  the  invading 
microbes  are  destroyed,  and  disease  is  warded  off. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  invaders  come  in  too  great 
numbers,  or  multiply  too  rapidly,  the  antidotes  can- 
not cope  with  them,  and  the  disease  develops. 

Now  the  dead  germs  that  the  inoculator  introduces 
in  producing  artificial  immunity  carry  with  them  a 
certain  increment  of  poison,  and  excite  the  tissues 
to  production  of  antidotes  precisely  as  would  living 
microbes.  There  is,  however,  the  important  differ- 
ence that  the  dead  microbes  obviously  cannot  multi- 
ply and  so  overwhelm  their  host  with  the  power  of 
numbers.  The  number  of  microbes  and  therefore  the 
quantity  of  poison  introduced  can  be  graduated  at 
will  of  the  inoculator,  who  is  careful  to  introduce 
only  such  numbers  as  experience  has  shown  will  not 
produce  too  powerful  an  effect. 

So  the  tissues  are  able  to  manufacture  sufficient 

211 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

quantities  of  anti-toxins  to  neutralize  the  bacterial 
poisons;  the  bacteriolysins  tend  to  dissolve  the  dead 
germs;  the  opsonins  facilitate  their  ingestion  by  the 
hosts  of  leucocytes  always  present  in  the  blood;  and 
presently  the  invaders  have  been  removed  from  the 
tissues  and  their  poison  neutralized.  In  a  word,  the 
capacity  to  form  anti-bodies,  which  is  a  function  of 
the  tissues,  has  been  called  into  action. 

NATURE'S  PRODIGAL  SUPPLY  OF  ANTIDOTES 

No  useful  purpose  would  have  been  accomplished 
in  all  this,  however,  were  it  not  for  a  peculiar  physio- 
logical property  of  the  tissues,  in  virtue  of  which 
they  do  not  limit  their  response  to  the  mere  balanc- 
ing of  the  attack  made  by  a  bacterial  enemy.  That 
is  to  say,  when  a  group  of  germs  with  their  modicum 
of  poison  is  forced  into  the  midst  of  the  body  cells, 
the  cells  do  not  content  themselves  with  producing 
merely  enough  antitoxin  precisely  to  neutralize  the 
amount  of  toxin  introduced,  and  enough  opsonins 
to  insure  the  ingestion  of  this  particular  host  of 
bacteria  and  no  more.  Nature  is  by  no  means  so 
conservative  as  this  would  imply.  She  calls  on  the 
cells  to  produce  anti-bodies  in  all  haste,  and  to  con- 
tinue producing  them  for  some  time  after  the  precise 
irritant  in  question  has  been  eliminated. 

If  a  certain  group  of,  say,  typhoid  germs  has  been 
introduced,  how  can  it  be  known  that  this  is  not  a 
mere  advance  guard,  premonitory  of  the  coming  of 
other  hosts?  Obviously  the  only  safe  course  is  to 
assume  that  such  is  the  case. 

So  the  cells  go  on  for  a  time  producing  the  anti- 

212 


MASTERING    THE     MICROBE 

dotes,  with  the  result  that  a  residual  quantity  of 
typhoid  antitoxins  and  bactericides,  and  agglutinins, 
and  opsonins,  finding  no  further  host  of  enemies  at 
hand,  passes  into  the  general  circulation  and  becomes 
a  relatively  permanent  constituent  of  the  blood  serum 
and  lymph. 

It  is  in  the  production  of  this  excess  quantity  of 
the  antidote  to  a  given  bacterial  poison  that  the  en- 
tire rationale  of  artificial  immunization  consists.  For 
now  let  us  suppose  that  the  individual  thus  treated 
chanced  accidentally  to  ingest  some  living  typhoid 
germs  in  his  food  or  drink.  These  germs  as  they 
enter  his  blood  are  at  once  met  by  the  anti-bodies 
already  there,  and  are  promptly  destroyed;  whereas 
in  the  body  of  a  non-immunized  subject,  they  would 
have  multiplied  so  rapidly  that  the  tissues  could  not 
have  adequately  met  them  with  the  production  of 
antidotes. 

THE  NEW  METHOD  IS  RIGIDLY  SCIENTIFIC 

The  value  of  the  preventive  inoculation  against 
typhoid  has  been  fully  demonstrated.  The  British 
Army  used  the  anti-typhoid  vaccine  in  the  South 
African  war.  Then  it  was  introduced  into  the  Ger- 
man army,  and  used  by  the  American  army  in  the 
Philippines.  Very  recently  its  use  has  been  made 
obligatory  in  the  American  army,  and  it  has  been 
used  effectively  to  check  epidemics  of  typhoid  fever 
among  civilians,  as  at  Salt  Lake  City.  An  inkling  of 
the  importance  of  this  discovery  from  a  merely  eco- 
nomic standpoint  may  be  gained  if  we  recall  that  the 
annual  cost  of  typhoid  in  the  United  States  has  been 

213 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

estimated  at  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  mill- 
ion dollars.  This  estimate  was  made  by  Dr.  George 
M.  Kober,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  White  House 
'Conference  of  Governors,  in  1908. 

Though  this  inoculation  against  typhoid  marks  a 
new  and  most  important  departure  in  medical  science, 
it  must  not  be  inferred  that  it  constitutes  an  entirely 
novel  procedure.  Jennerian  vaccination  agaist  small- 
pox, and  Pasteur's  celebrated  inoculation  -against 
anthrax  and  against  rabies  are  illustrations  of  im- 
munization produced  by  the  introduction  of  a  virus 
attenuated  in  strength  or  limited  as  to  quantity.  But 
the  novelty  of  Wright's  experiments  consists  in  the 
fact  that  they  were  attended  at  all  stages  by  careful 
and  systematic  bacteriological  observation  (whereas 
in  the  case  of  smallpox  and  rabies,  the  germ  had  not 
yet  been  isolated) ;  and  in  particular  that  the  effects 
of  the  inoculation  were  observed  and  tested  by  an  en- 
tirely new  method. 

This  new  method  is  based  on  the  observation  of 
the  so-called  opsonic  index.  Being  briefly  inter- 
preted, this  means  a  test  of  the  quantity  of  anti-bodies 
present  in  the  blood  as  demonstrated  by  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  white  blood  corpuscles  are  observed 
to  ingest  disease  germs  with  which  they  come  in  con- 
tact. The  more  "opsonin"  present,  the  more  readily 
and  rapidly  the  swallowing  of  germs  by  the  blood  cor- 
puscles goes  on.  Actual  count  of  the  number  of  germs 
ingested,  on  the  average,  in  a  given  time,  gives  the 
microscopist  information  about  the  condition  of  the 
patient's  blood  that  could  be  gained  in  no  other  way. 
Professor  Wright  and  Dr.  Douglas  discovered  this 

214 


MASTERING    THE    MICROBE 

important  test  in  the  course  of  their  experiments  with 
typhoid.  The  discovery  placed  in  their  hands  for  the 
first  time  a  method  of  accurately  testing  the  response 
which  the  tissues  of  the  body  make  in  any  given  case 
of  bacterial  poisoning. 

The  results  of  such  observations  are  of  the  greatest 
practical  importance.  It  was  found,  for  example, 
that  after  a  patient  is  inoculated  with  a  certain  quan- 
tity of  devitalized  disease  germs,  his  "opsonic"  index 
for  a  time  falls;  showing  that  the  tissues  are  not  able 
immediately  to  neutralize  fully  the  weakening  effect 
of  the  poison.  Wright  terms  this  period  the  "nega- 
tive phase." 

But  presently,  in  case  the  inoculation  has  been 
properly  apportioned  in  quantity,  the  index  rises, — 
in  token  that  the  blood  is  being  surcharged  with 
antitoxines.  This  so-called  "positive  phase"  pres- 
ently reaches  a  maximum  and  then  begins  to  recede. 
Repeated  inoculations,  however,  carry  it  to  a  relative- 
ly high  level,  in  token  that  the  blood  is  for  the  time 
being  highly  charged  with  protective  anti-bodies  and 
opsonins.  This  is  the  condition  of  immunity.  It  is 
the  condition  of  a  patient  for  a  time  after  his  recovery 
from  an  acute  infectious  disease. 

But  if  the  repeated  inoculations  had  been  made 
during  the  "negative  phase,"  the  system  would  have 
staggered,  as  it  were,  under  the  increasing  burden, 
and  injury  instead  of  good  would  have  resulted. 
This  it  appears  had  often  been  the  case  in  the  use 
of  Professor  Koch's  widely  heralded  "tuberculin,"  a 
bacterial  vaccine,  before  the  opsonin  test  was  known. 
Among  the  first  practical  results  of  the  new  method 

215 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

was  to  show  the  physician  how  to  regulate  the  dos- 
age of  tuberculin  and  thus  restore  to  use  a  discredited 
remedy.  A  modified  tuberculin,  made  from  the  bodies 
of  tubercle  bacilli,  is  to-day  in  use  as  an  effective 
immunizing  and  curative  agent  against  the  "great 
white  plague." 

THE  NEW  METHOD  EXTENDED  TO  A  VARIETY  OF  DISEASES 

From  the  above  explanation  it  would  appear  that 
the  vaccine  treatment  is  chiefly  a  preventive  measure. 
But  it  soon  occurred  to  Sir  Almroth  Wright  that  the 
method  has  wider  possibilities.  After  his  signal  suc- 
cess with  the  anti-typhoid  inoculation,  he  began  de- 
voting himself  to  generalizing  the  method  and 
applying  it  to  the  treatment  of  a  great  number  of 
bacterial  diseases. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  written  on  the 
subject,  few  people  perhaps  are  fully  aware  of  the 
extent  to  which  bacteria  are  responsible  for  human 
maladies.  It  is  perhaps  not  going  too  far  to  affirm 
that  no  disease  to  which  flesh  is  heir  is  entirely  free 
from  the  possibility  of  complications  arising  from 
the  action  of  noxious  germs. 

An  inkling  of  the  true  state  of  affairs  may  be 
gained  from  the  observation  that  there  are  at  present 
known  to  the  microscopist  more  than  a  score  of  dis- 
tinct species  of  micro-organisms  that  produce  human 
maladies;  while  numerous  others  as  yet  not  isolated 
make  their  presence  known  through  such  infectious 
diseases  as  measles,  scarlet  fever,  and  smallpox,  the 
germs  of  which  have  not  as  yet  been  discovered, 
though  their  effects  are  so  familiar. 

216 


MASTERING    THE    MICROBE 

Leaving  aside  doubtful  cases,  some  of  the  germs 
actually  recognizable  under  the  microscope  at  the 
present  stage  of  bacteriological  science  are  those 
causing  such  widely  varying  diseases  as  typhoid  fever, 
diphtheria,  tetanus,  pneumonia,  tuberculosis,  influ- 
enza, blood  poisoning,  malaria,  syphilis,  boils,  acne, 
suppuration  of  wounds,  plague,  cholera,  cerebro 
spinal  meningitis,  dysentery,  Malta  fever,  common 
colds,  Riggs  disease,  anthrax,  glanders,  sleeping  sick- 
ness, and  rabies. 

Such  a  list  suggests  that  the  possible  range  of 
application  of  a  method  aimed  directly  against  in- 
fectious bacteria  is  almost  limitless.  The  most  obvious 
application  is  to  cases  of  localized  infections,  such  as 
boils,  ulcers,  and  infective  inflammation  of  the  lungs, 
the  heart,  the  kidneys,  or  of  the  marrow  of  the  bones. 
Here  the  local  tissues  may  not  be  able  to  produce 
anti-bodies  rapidly  enough  to  overmaster  the  invad- 
ing bacteria,  which  multiply  with  astonishing  rapidi- 
ty; and  in  that  event  the  diseased  condition  may 
become  chronic.  Often  there  is  in  effect  a  drawn 
battle,  in  that  the  tissues  manage  to  keep  the  infec- 
tion from  spreading  beyond  a  certain  area,  yet  cannot 
wholly  banish  the  invaders  from  the  system. 

In  such  a  case,  the  theory  of  vaccine  treatment, 
as  practiced  by  Wright  and  his  followers,  is  to  call 
up  reinforcements  from  outlying  regions  of  the  body. 
Here  is  a  case,  let  us  say,  in  which  colonies  of  bacteria 
have  found  lodgment  on  the  mucous  membrane  lining 
the  heart,  causing  an  inflammation  technically  known 
as  malignant  endocarditis — one  of  the  most  intract- 
able and  deadly  of  maladies.  The  local  tissues  re- 
15  217 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

spond  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  producing  a  certain 
amount  of  antitoxin  and  opsonin.  Leucocytes  gather 
and  prey  on  the  invaders.  But  their  best  efforts 
serve  only  to  hold  the  parasites  in  check,  not  to  over- 
come them. 

But  now  comes  the  immunizator  to  the  aid  of  the 
local  tissues.  He  makes  a  culture  of  bacteria  of  the 
species  in  question;  kills  the  bacteria  by  heating;  and 
injects  a  certain  number  into  the  tissue  of  the  patient's 
arm  or  leg.  An  intense  reaction  at  once  sets  in  at 
the  site  of  inoculation,  and  a  relatively  large  quantity 
of  anti-bodies  and  opsonin  is  liberated  into  the  blood 
stream,  and  presently  finds  its  way  to  the  seat  of 
war,  so  to  speak.  These  reinforcements  may  perhaps 
turn  the  tide  of  what  might  otherwise  have  been  a 
hopeless  battle.  Cases  of  inflammation  of  the  heart 
have  been  cured  in  this  way  that  until  this  new 
method  was  introduced  would  have  been  beyond  the 
reach  of  medical  skill. 

MIXED  INFECTIONS' 

Of  course  the 'actual  application  of  the  new  method 
is  not  always  so  simple  as  this  illustration  may  seem 
to  imply.  For  one  thing,  infections  are  very  general- 
ly "mixed," — that  is,  due  to  several  bacteria.  Thus, 
for  example,  the  ulceration  of  the  lungs  that  char- 
acterizes tuberculosis,  though  primarily  due  to  the 
invasion  of  the  tubercle  bacillus,  owes  a  large  part  of 
its  virulence  to  the  coming  of  a  quite  different  germ 
called  staphylococcus — the  germ  that  causes  ordin- 
ary abscesses  and  ulcerations  is  superficial  tissues. 
So  it  is  often  desirable  in  cases  of  tuberculosis  to  ap- 

218 


MASTERING     THE     MICROBE 

ply  inoculations  of  staphyloccocus  vaccine  no  less 
than  of  tuberculin. 

Similarly  in  pneumonia,  half  a  dozen  bacteria  may 
be  found  associated  with  the  pneumococcus. 

But  these  complications  may  not  be  dwelt  on  here. 
Suffice  it  that  the  general  method  of  vaccine  therapy, 
as  developed  by  Sir  Almroth  Wright  and  his  as- 
sociates, has  taken  its  place  in  spite  of  ardent  opposi- 
tion as  a  remedial  method  of  extraordinary  promise. 

It  should  be  added  that  the  method  has  proved  in 
practice  to  have  possibilities  of  application  lying  be- 
yond what  even  its  originator  hoped  for  it.  Wright 
himself  expressly  declared,  as  recently  as  1903,  that 
we  cannot  hope  to  apply  the  method  to  the  treatment 
of  general  infections  that  are  already  under  way. 
That  is  to  say,  he  felt  that  the  utility  of  the  vaccine 
treatment  in  such  a  disease  as  typhoid  must  consist 
in  preventive  inoculations  rather  than  in  remedial 
applications  in  cases  of  typhoid  already  developed. 

Yet  we  find  that  a  large  number  of  physicians 
recently  have  used  the  anti-typhoid  vaccine  in  cases 
of  developed  disease,  and  seemingly  with  the  most 
gratifying  results.  Many  such  cases  are  detailed  in 
an  article  in  the  Medical  Record  of  June  24,  1911. 
This  phase  of  the  treatment  still  has  controversial 
aspects,  however,  and  involves  matters  too  technical 
for  discussion  here. 

THE  GREATEST  ACHIEVEMENT  OF  CURATIVE  SCIENCE 

A  writer  in  the  same  medical  journal  under  date 
of  June  3,  1911,  says :  "The  value  of  Wright's  vac- 
cines in  the  treatment  of  various  infections  is  now 

219 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

generally  conceded  by  scientific  men.  If  it  is  true 
that  by  means  of  bacterial  inoculations  we  have  the 
power  of  raising  the  anti-bacterial  power  of  the 
blood,  we  must  all  admit  that  Wright  has  really 
given  us  the  'most  valuable  asset  in  medicine'  and 
that  his  discovery  of  a  means  of  successfully  com- 
batting infectious  micro-organisms  merits  to  be  re- 
corded as  the  greatest  achievement  of  curative  sci- 
ence and  one  of  unrivaled  importance  to  the  world 
at  large." 

Speaking  in  detail  of  the  work  at  St.  Mary's  Hos- 
pital in  London,  which  is  now  the  seat  of  Sir  Aim- 
roth  Wright's  activities,  the  writer  continues :  "Even 
a  skeptical  observer  will,  I  think,  soon  become  con- 
vinced of  the  value  of  vaccines  in  bacterial  infections 
from  watching  for  several  weeks  the  patients  who 
return  for  regular  treatment  to  these  clinics.  The 
results  in  many  cases  are  so  brilliant  and  striking 
that  one  can  scarcely  refrain  from  enthusiasm." 

To  the  truth  of  this  estimate  I  can  personally 
testify.  I  have  been  privileged  to  observe  at  first 
hand  Sir  Almroth  Wright's  application  of  the  vac- 
cine therapy  at  St.  Mary's;  and  I  came  away  filled 
with  enthusiasm  that  I  have  no  inclination  to  restrain. 
In  Sir  Almroth  Wright  himself  I  had  found  one  of  the 
most  inspiring  and  interesting  personalities  among 
contemporary  men  of  science;  in  his  method  I 
seemed  to  see  the  inauguration  of  a  purely  scientific 
therapeutic  measure  that  should  ultimately  give  man 
complete  mastery  over  each  and  every  variety  of 
noxious  microbe. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  too  visionary  to  indulge  the  ex- 

220 


MASTERING    THE    MICROBE 

pectation  that  the  physician  of  the  future,  armed 
with  the  new  weapons  of  the  immunizator,  and  co- 
operating with  the  hygienist,  will  pursue  the  deadlier 
germs  until  many  of  them  become  extinct  species. 
Man  has  exterminated  hosts  of  friendly  beasts.  He 
should  be  able  to  wage  equally  successful  warfare 
against  the  enemies  that  know  no  habitat  but  his 
own  body,  yet  which  have  been  chiefly  responsible 
for  reducing  the  average  age  of  the  race  to  about 
half  its  normal  span. 

Hitherto  the  physician  has  been  fighting  in  the 
dark  against  these  hosts  of  malignant  microbes.  But 
the  microscopists  of  a  generation  ago  revealed  the 
enemy,  and  the  immunizator  now  places  in  our  hands 
the  weapons  for  their  annihilation. 


VIII 

BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

"  A    VERY  small,  frail  man;  obviously  nervous  in 

*\    temperament  and  doubtless  on  occasion  irri- 
table, but  in  our  interview  most  gracious." 

I  find  this  entry  in  my  note  book  in  reference  to 
a  recent  visit  to  Paul  Ehrlich  at  his  famous  laboratory 
in  Frankfort  on  the  Main.  As  I  recall  the  occasion, 
the  picture  of  the  man  that  comes  to  my  mind  em- 
phasizes the  appearance  of  alertness,  quickness  of 
apprehension,  nervous  energy  of  action  that  charac- 
terize the  great  scientific  investigator; — traits  that 
doubtless  account  in  no  small  measure  for  his 
achievements. 

But  there  also  comes  to  mind  the  recollection  of 
a  seemingly  naive  personality  no  less  characteristic 
of  a  man  whose  life  has  been  chiefly  spent  viewing 
the  world  through  a  microscope  and  looking  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  visible  to  picture  in  imagination  the 
activities  of  unseen  molecules  and  atoms. 

I  recall  the  obvious  and  open  pride,  the  boyish  en- 
thusiasm, with  which  the  great  savant  beckoned  me 
to  one  side  of  his  room  to  inspect  some  wax  models 
showing  hands  of  afflicted  persons  before  and  after 
treatment  with  his  newly  discovered  remedy  "606" — 
of  which  all  the  world  has  now  heard. 

222 


PROFESSOR  PAUL  EHRLICH  IN  HIS  LABORATORY 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

"Aren't  they  wonderful!"  he  exclaimed.  His  eye 
twinkled,  and  he  whispered  as  if  in  confidence :  "You 
know  if  I  were  to  put  them  in  the  fire  they  would 
melt."  Then  after  a  pause:  "That  is  why  I  do  not 
put  them  in  the  fire."  A  hearty  laugh  followed,  in- 
dicating that  the  discoverer  of  "606" — and  the  pro- 
pounder  of  the  subtlest  theory  of  vital  action  in  con- 
nection with  disease  and  immunity  that  has  ever 
been  suggested — regarded  this  as  a  very  clever  witti- 
cism. 

Nor  could  the  visitor  fail  to  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  the  recital.  There  was  a  delightfully  child-like 
simplicity  in  the  way  of  speaking,  as  also  in  the  man- 
ner of  the  famous  investigator  as  he  posed  for  his 
photograph,  that  quite  won  the  heart.  Did  you  ex- 
pect a  disquisition  on  some  obscure  phase  of  science? 
Instead  of  this  the  savant  makes  a  witticism  and] 
offers  you  a  cigar,  assuring  you  that  smoking  is  the 
greatest  pleasure  of  life.  Moreover,  the  entire  man- 
ner and  speech  of  this  greatest  living  authority  in 
the  field  of  experimental  medicine  seemed  to  betoken 
the  modesty,  self-forgetfulness,  simplicity  of  view  that 
always — or  almost  always — characterize  the  truly 
great  personality. 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF.  SALVARSAN 

The  work  which  brought  the  name  of  Ehrlich  to 
the  attention  of  the  general  public  throughout  the 
world  in  the  year  1910  was  the  discovery  of  the  spe- 
cific cure  for  syphilis,  which  was  given  to  the  world 
under  the  name  of  "606,"  and  which  was  subse- 
quently christened  salvarsan;  a  more  soluble  form 

223 


MIRACLES'    OF    SCIENCE 

of  the  drug  soon  after  being  synthesized  and  chris- 
tened neo-salvarsan.  This  drug,  when  injected  hypo- 
dermically  into  the  tissues  or  into  a  vein  has  the 
extraordinary  property  of  searching  out  the  so-called 
spirochete  that  causes  syphilis,  and  killing  this  germ 
without  injuring  the  unwilling  host  in  whose  blood 
and  tissues  it  has  found  lodgment.  The  drug  is  there- 
fore a  specific  in  the  most  restricted  use  of  that  word. 
It  is  aimed  to  destroy  a  particular  germ,  and  it  ac- 
complishes this  purpose  in  a  large  percentage  of 
cases  at  a  single  dose. 

The  discovery  of  this  remarkable  specific  did  not 
come  about  by  accident.  The  drug  was  nicknamed 
"606"  because  605  syntheses  of  allied  drugs  had  been 
made  unsuccessfully,  from  the  same  derivative 
(atoxyl),  compounded  of  arsenic  and  a  coal  tar 
product.  This  puts  the  discovery  of  salvarsan  on 
an  altogether  different  footing  from  the  empirical 
discovery  made  several  decades  earlier,  that  drugs 
extracted  from  the  cinchona  plant  have  specific 
power  against  the  germs  of  malaria.  In  point  of  fact, 
the  discovery  of  Ehrlich  may  be  said  to  have  come 
as  the  logical  sequence  of  a  line  of  thought  and  in- 
vestigation to  which  almost  his  entire  working  life 
had  been  devoted. 

The  discoverer  first  became  known  to  pathologists 
many  years  ago  through  his  investigation  of  stains 
for  microscopic  tissues.  He  devised  some  remark- 
able compounds  through  which  he  was  enabled  to 
stain  differentially  the  different  types  of  white  blood 
corpuscles,  proving  that  these  curious  cells  are  not  all 
of  one  family.  Elie  Metchnikoff  had  shown  that  a 

224 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

function  of  the  white  blood  corpuscles  is  to  act  as  a 
scavenger  in  the  blood,  attacking  and  devouring  the 
noxious  germs  that  find  entrance  to  the  body.  Ehr- 
lich  showed  that  it  is  particular  tribes  of  the  leuco- 
cytes, more  especially  the  ones  which  came  to  be 
known  as  polymorphs  (polynuclear  leucocytes)  that 
make  up  the  company  of  germ-fighters,  which  Metch- 
nikoff  had  christened  phagocytes  or  cell-eaters. 
Another  and  smaller  type  of  leucocyte  Ehrlich  chris- 
tened the  eosinophile  (lover  of  eosin)  because  of  the 
readiness  with  which  it  absorbs  the  eosin  stain. 

The  functions  of  the  less  numerous  tribes  of  leuco- 
cytes have  not  been  very  clearly  made  out;  but  their 
discovery  was  a  step  in  the  revelation  of  the  com- 
plexity of  the  blood  which  has  been  supplemented, 
on  the  physiological  side,  by  the  studies  in  immuni- 
zation, and  by  such  remarkable  demonstrations  as 
Professor  G.  H.  F.  Nuttall's  tests  through  which  the 
genetic  relationship  of  different  animals  may  be 
shown  by  examining  a  few  drops  of  blood  serum. 

THE  SIDE-CHAIN  THEORY 

Notwithstanding  his  successes  in  the  anatomical 
investigations,  Professor  Ehrlich's  interests  have  all 
along  centered  on  the  physiological  and  chemical 
aspects  of  the  problems  of  medical  science.  He  made 
very  notable  contributions  to  the  theory  of  the  new 
science  of  immunity  not  long  after  the  investigations 
of  Von  Behring  gave  the  diphtheria  antitoxin  to  the 
world.  Ehrlich  experimented  with  certain  vegetable 
products,  notably  ricin,  a  derivative  of  the  castor  oil 
bean.  His  line  of  research  had  to  do  with  rendering 

225 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

animals  immune  to  these  poisons  by  giving  them 
repeated  small  doses  of  the  drug.  A  conspicuous 
immediate  result  of  these  experiments  was  the  de- 
velopment (about  1897)  of  Ehrlich's  theory  of  im- 
munity, which  may  be  regarded  as  the  most  plaus- 
ible hypothesis  hitherto  advanced  in  explanation  of 
the  observed  facts  of  immunity  to  bacterial  diseases. 
Ehrlich  called  his  explanation  the  side-chain  theory. 

This  very  interesting  hypothesis,  although  based 
on  a  vast  range  of  observations,  is  »of  necessity  alto- 
gether theoretical.  But  it  has  proved  of  great  im- 
portance in  enabling  workers  in  many  fields  to  visu- 
alize what  at  least  are  the  possible  conditions  in  the 
human  system  through  which  it  comes  to  pass  that 
the  person  who  has  recovered  from  a  bacterial  dis- 
ease is  very  generally  immune  for  a  time  at  least  to 
further  attacks  from  that  disease;  and  also  the  allied 
fact  that  an  antitoxin,  developed  in  the  system  of  an 
animal,  may  be  transferred  with  curative  effect  to 
the  system  of  a  patient  suffering  from  the  bacterial 
toxin, — as  illustrated  in  the  familiar  case  of  the  Von 
Behring  cure  for  diphtheria. 

The  side-chain  theory  in  its  fully  developed  form, 
as  expounded,  for  example,  by  Ehrlich  before  the 
Royal  Society  of  London  in  his  Croonian  lecture,  in 
1900,  is  a  very  elaborate  hypothesis.  It  assumes 
that  the  toxin  produced  by  a  pathogenic  bacterium, 
the  poisonous  effects  of  which  produce  the  symptoms 
of  disease,  consists  essentially  of  ultra-microscopic 
particles  which  may  be  conceived  as  having  definite 
forms,  varying  with  different  types  of  bacteria,  but 
uniform  in  the  case  of  any  given  toxin. 

226 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

A  graphic  idea  of  what  takes  place  when  the  par- 
ticles of  a  toxin  circulate  in  the  blood  of  a  patient 
may  be  gained  if  we  think  of  each  poison-conveying 
particle  as  having  a  specific  form  that  enables  it  to 
fit  into  a  corresponding  particle  of  the  normal  cellu- 
lar tissues  somewhat  as  a  key  fits  (into  a  lock.  If  the 
toxic  particles  are  introduced  into  the  system  in  suffi- 
cient quantities,  they  link  themselves  in  large  num- 
bers with  the  body  cells,  thereby  conveying  their 
poison  to  the  essential  living  tissues,  and  disturbing 
the  physiological  processes  so  profoundly  as  perhaps 
to  cause  the  death  of  the  patient. 

But  the  bodily  cells,  if  not  too  quickly  overpow- 
ered, tend  to  combat  the  enemy  by  sending  out  what 
may  be  called  anti-bodies  which  are  of  such  form  as 
to  unite  with  the  toxic  particles.  Each  toxic  particle 
thus  united  with  an  anti-body  is  like  a  key  perma- 
nently fitted  into  a  detachable  lock.  Toxin  and  anti- 
toxin (key  and  lock)  then  float  in  the  blood  stream 
harmlessly,  and  in  course  of  time  are  excreted  from 
the  body. 

As  nature  does  nothing  by  halves,  the  cells  that 
send  out  the  antitoxin  are  not  content  to  -produce 
just  particles  enough  to  checkmate  each  toxic  par- 
ticle. They  send  out  a  surplus  supply,  and  these 
supernumerary  particles  float  unattached  in  the  blood 
for  an  indefinite  period,  ready  at  any  time  to  attach 
themselves  to  toxins  of  the  particular  kind  that  evoke 
their  presence.  And  persons  in  whose  blood  stream 
such  antitoxic  particles  or  antibodies  are  present  are 
immune  to  the  specific  disease  whose  toxins  pro- 
voked the  sending  out  of  these  antibodies. 

227  * 


MIRACLES'    OF    SCIENCE 

The  graphic  diagrams  with  which  Ehrlich  illus- 
trates his  theory  are  of  course  purely  imaginary, 
inasmuch  as  toxins  and  antitoxins  alike  lie  far  be- 
yond the  range  of  the  microscope.  But  it  is  always 
helpful  to  the  investigator  of  abstruse  topics  to  be 
able  to  visualize  his  work.  As  I  said  before,  the 
side-chain  theory  holds  a  unique  place  in  this  regard. 
It  is  applicable  all  along  the  line  in  the  studies  of 
immunization,  and  it  has  been  pretty  generally  ac 
cepted  as  a  working  hypothesis.  The  specific  bloou 
tests  of  Widal  for  typhoid  fever  and  of  Von  Wasser- 
mann  for  syphilis  have  been  developed  and  explained 
in  the  light  of  the  side-chain  theory;  and  the  new 
vaccine  therapy,  which  stimulates  the  cells  to  act  by 
introducing  dead  toxic  germs,  falls  equally  within 
its  scope.  The  theory  may  also  be  used  to  explain 
the  very  puzzling  phenomena  of  excessive  suscepti- 
bility to  certain  protein  substances — blood-serum, 
white  of  egg,  and  vegetable  albumens,  as  well  as 
bacterial  proteins — to  which  the  term  anaphylaxis  is 
applied.  But  perhaps  the  most  important  benefits 
derived  from  the  theory,  have  grown  out  of  the  work 
of  Ehrlich  himself,  and  his  immediate  associates,  in 
the  development  of  the  new  chemo-therapy. 

THE  SEARCH   FOR  SPECIFICS 

The  very  essence  of  the  side-chain  theory,  it  will 
be  observed,  is  the  assumption  that  each  specific 
toxin  has  unit  particles  of  a  definite  shape  and  can 
be  combatted  only  by  particles  of  complementary 
shape, — just  as  a  given  key  fits  only  its  companion 
lock.  A  vast  body  of  observations  in  varied  fields 
«  228 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

has  tended  to  support  this  idea  of  the  specific  char- 
acter of  the  toxins  that  are  able  to  produce  dele- 
terious effects  on  living  tissues.  The  idea  runs 
counter  to  the  crude  general  notion  that  whatever  is 
poisonous  to  one  protoplasmic  cell  is  poisonous  to 
another.  But  the  evidence  strongly  supports  the  new 
theory.  Indeed  the  fact  that  an  antitoxic  serum — 
such  as  Behring's  diphtheria  antitoxin — counteracts 
the  diphtheria  toxin  and  no  other,  brings  the  theory 
of  the  specific  nature  of  toxins  and  antitoxins  to 
substantial  demonstration. 

Such  being  the  case,  and  it  being  tolerably  clear 
that  the  body  is  able,  under  favorable  conditions,  to 
produce  a  specific  antidote  for  each  type  of  bacterial 
toxin,  it  seemed  to  Ehrlich  within  the  possibilities 
that  synthetic  chemistry  might  be  able  to  develop 
corresponding  antidotes  in  the  laboratory  test  tube. 
His  own  early  work  had  shown,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
certain  dyes  of  the  aniline  series  have  the  property 
of  staining  cells  of  one  type  and  leaving  cells  of  an 
allied  type  unstained;  so  it  occurred  to  him  that  by 
utilizing  this  selective  affinity  of  the  aniline  dye,  and 
combining  this  agent  with  a  drug  that  is  toxic  to 
protoplasm,  he  might  be  able  to  develop  specifics 
which  would  search  out  a  particular  type  of  disease 
germ  and  destroy  it  without  injuring  the  tissues  of 
the  patient  in  whose  system  the  disease  germ  lurked 
and  proliferated.  ,; 

The  attempt  to  put  this  idea  in  practice  involved 
almost  numberless  complications.  To  mention  a 
single  one,  it  was  early  discovered  that  tests  of  the 
germicide  power  of  any  given  drug  when  made  in  the 

229 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

test  tube  are  not  to  be  relied  upon.  The  test  must 
be  made  in  the  tissues  of  the  living  organism.  Obvi- 
ously a  human  being  cannot  be  used  for  this;  but  for- 
tunately the  tests  made  with  the  lower  animals,  not- 
ably guinea  pigs,  rabbits,  and  mice  afford  clues  that 
have  a  large  measure  of  reliability.  It  is  with  the  aid 
of  these  agents  that  the  remarkable  work  of  recent 
decades  in  combatting  germ  diseases  has  been  carried 
out. 

The  attempts  of  Ehrlich  to  develop  antidotes  in  the 
test  tube  were  first  directed  against  the  protozoal 
germs  of  the  deadly  African  disease  called  sleeping 
sickness.  Ehrlich  finally  developed  a  compound  of 
atoxyl  having  undoubted  efficacy  in  destroying  the 
protozoon,  called  a  trypanosome,  that  causes  the  dis- 
ease. Unfortunately  the  remedy  was  found  to  pro- 
duce bad  after  effects,  sometimes  causing  permanent 
blindness.  But  the  use  of  the  drug  salvarsan,  which 
was  the  next  important  development,  seems  to  have 
no  bad  sequel.  It  destroys  the  spirochete  of  syphilis 
seemingly  without  injury  to  the  patient.  The  com- 
plications of  syphilis  are  so  numerous  that  it  is  usually 
desirable  to  supplement  the  use  of  salvarsan  with 
other  "treatment.  But  the  broad  general  claim  that 
this  drug  is  a  specific  enemy  of  the  germ  of  syphilis 
seems  fully  established. 

THE  QUEST  OF  A  CANCER  CURE 

A  further  extension  of  the  principle  of  chemo- 
therapy has  been  made  in  the  attempt  to  discover  an 
agent  that  will  act  effectively  against  cancer.  Ehr- 
lich, even  at  the  time  when  his  remedy  for  syphilis 

230 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

was  under  way,  had  a  large  number  of  cancerous 
mice  under  observation,  and  other  investigators  were 
working  along  similar  lines.  In  1912  Professor  A. 
von  Wassermann  of  Berlin  announced  that  he  had 
synthesized  a  compound  of  eosin  and  selenium,  which 
had  the  specific  property  of  disintegrating  cancerous 
tumors  in  mice.  Not  long  afterward  Professor  Ehr- 
lich  announced  similar  results.  But  in  both  cases 
it  was  specifically  stated  that  the  remedy  had  not 
been  tested  on  the  human  subject.  There  is  reason 
to  hope,  however,  that  the  synthesis  of  a  drug  which 
has  this  specific  action  against  the  cancerous  tissue 
of  a  mouse  at  least  points  the  way  to  the  ultimate 
application  of  the  remedy  or  of  some  modified  de- 
velopment of  the  remedy,  to  this  most  deadly  and 
intractable  of  human  maladies. 

It  was  announced  early  in  1913  that  Dr.  Leo  Loeb 
of  St.  Louis,  who  has  long  been  working  at  the  cancer 
problem,  had  developed  a  compound  of  colloidal  cop- 
per which  had  been  tested  with  at  least  partially 
encouraging  results  on  the  human  subject.  Up  to 
this  time  the  cause  of  the  cancer  has  remained  quite 
unknown.  It  is  not  even  certain  whether  the  causal 
agent  is  a  living  germ.  So  the  experimenters  who 
are  attempting  to  devise  remedies  for  the  malignant 
growth  are  working  in  the  dark.  Nevertheless  many 
medical  men  are  hopeful  that  the  searchers  are  on 
the  track  of  the  chemical  cure  for  cancer,  and  it  is 
easily  within  the  possibilities  that  this  may  be  dis- 
covered before  the  actual  cause  of  the  condition  is 
known.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the  causal  agent  of 
smallpox  is  unknown  even  to  this  day  although  the 

231 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

sure  means  of  its  prevention  has  been  available  since 
the  time  of  Jenner. 

THE  ULTRA-MICROSCOPE 

In  the  attempt  to  discover  the  causal  agent  for 
smallpox  and  the  allied  maladies  whose  germs  have 
hitherto  eluded  detection,  it  has  been  discovered  that 
a  virus  capable  of  transmitting  the  disease  may  retain 
its  noxious  features  after  being  passed  through  an 
unglazed  porcelain  filter.  Similarly  Dr.  Peyton  Rous 
of  the  Rockefeller  Institute,  who  has  had  great 
experience  in  cultivating  cancer  and  in  transferring 
the  abnormal  virus  from  one  animal  to  another,  in- 
cluding mice,  rats,  and  chickens,  appears  to  have 
produced  cancer  in  an  animal  by  injecting  a  liquid 
that  had  been  passed  through  such  a  filter.  This 
means  that  no  bacteria  of  a  size  visible  under  the 
most  powerful  microscope  remained. 

It  is  thought  by  some  observers,  that  ultra-micro- 
scopic particles,  conceivably  living  germs  of  an  order 
almost  infinitely  smaller  than  bacteria,  have  been 
detected.  The  particles  in  question,  whether  or  not 
they  hold  this  relation  to  disease,  are  observed  with 
the  use  of  the  so-called  ultra-microscope,  which  owes 
its  origin  to  Zsigmondy  working  in  1901  and  to 
Siedentopf  in  1903.  The  method  developed  by  these 
workers  consists  of  letting  a  concentrated  beam  of 
light  cut  across  the  microscopic  field  without  entering 
the  lens  of  the  microscope. 

The  rays  of  light  beating  against  exceedingly 
minute  particles  of  matter  are  diffracted  or  dissipated 
in  every  direction,  and  to  the  observer  who  peers 

232 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

into  the  otherwise  totally  dark  field  of  the  microscope 
they  will  appear  as  sparks  of  light.  It  has  been  found 
possible  by  this  method  to  reveal  the  presence  of 
particles  that  are  estimated  to  be  not  more  than  ten 
times  the  size  of  a  molecule.  Such  particles  lie  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  direct  vision  even  under  the 
most  powerful  magnification. 

The  effect  will  be  understood  if  we  recall  the  famil- 
iar observation  that  a  beam  of  light  penetrating  a 
dark  room  through  a  hole  in  the  shutter,  reveals 
the  presence  of  myriads  of  motes,  floating  in  the 
atmosphere,  which  disappear  instantly  when  they 
float  outside  the  beam  of  light.  This  method  was 
used  by  Professor  Tyndall  to  test  the  presence  of 
bacteria  in  the  air,  and  he  found  that  the  naked  eye, 
with  the  aid  of  the  sunbeam,  could  detect  the  presence 
of  spores  that  otherwise  would  be  invisible  except 
with  the  aid  of  a  microscope  magnifying  perhaps  a 
thousand  diameters. 

The  beam  of  light  passing  through  the  field  of  the 
ultra  microscope,  since  it  is  viewed  through  a  mag- 
nifying lens,  reveals  particles  infinitely  more  minute. 
These  exceedingly  fine  particles  are  thus  observed 
to  be  incessantly  dancing  about  in  a  zig  zag  motion 
which  would  be  quite  inexplicable  except  on  the  sup- 
position that  they  are  being  buffeted  by  the  invisible 
molecules  of  the  solution  in  which  they  are  found. 
The  degree  of  activity  of  ultra-microscopic  particles 
varies,  as  might  be  expected,  with  the  strength  of 
the  solution;  which  is  in  harmony  with  Van't  Hoff's 
theory  of  osmosis  detailed  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 
It  remains  to  be  demonstrated  whether  the  ultra- 
16  233 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

microscopic  particles  hitherto  observed  bear  a  definite 
and  causal  relation  to  any  disease. 

It  is  always  possible  that  a  germ  of  microscopic 
size  may  escape  detection  because  no  proper  method 
has  yet  been  devised  of  staining  it  and  making  it 
visible.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the  now  familiar 
bacillus  of  tuberculosis  escaped  detection  until  Dr. 
Robert  Koch  devised  a  special  stain  in  the  year  1882; 
and  the  spirillum  of  syphilis  (Spirochaeta  or  Trepo- 
nema  pallidum),  which  is  a  relatively  long  organism 
of  corkscrew  shape,  was  not  discovered  until  1905, 
when  Schandinn  and  Hoffmann  devised  a  stain  that 
'renders  it  visible. 

The  germ  of  rabies  was  unknown  until  the  summer  • 
of  1913,  when  Dr.  Hideyo  Noguchi,  the  celebrated 
Japanese  pathologist,  now  of  the  Rockefeller  Insti- 
tute of  New  York,  announced  the  discovery  of  a  pro- 
tozoal  organism  in  the  virus. 

RADIUM  AND   LIFE 

That  cancer  is  due  to  a  living  organism  is  suggest- 
ed, though  by  no  means  demonstrated,  by  the  ob- 
served fact  that  in  a  certain  number  of  cases 
malignant  growths  yield  to  treatment  with  the  new 
forms  of  radiant  energy.  Thus  the  X-ray  has  proved 
curative  in  some  cases  of  cancer,  particularly  super- 
ficial epitheliomas.  The  radiations  from  radium, 
which  consist  in  part  of  what  appears  to  be  a  peculiar- 
ly penetrating  type  of  X-ray,  have  proved  even  more 
efficacious. 

In  1911  a  Radium  Institute  was  established  in 
London.  The  treatment  consists  in  subjecting  the 

234 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

cancer  to  the  influence  of  radiations  from  a  small  disk 
coated  with  a  radium  salt.  Apparent  cures  are  quoted 
in  a  large  number  of  cases,  chiefly  superficial  tumors. 
Deepseated  cancers  have  proved  much  less  amenable 
to  treatment.  Nevertheless  the  pain  of  inoperable 
internal  cancers  is  often  relieved  and  their  rate  of 
growth  checked  by  the  use  of  radium. 

The  extraordinary  influence  of  radium  and  the 
allied  chemicals  over  living  tissues  is  being  investi- 
gated by  almost  every  one  who  can  secure  a  supply 
of  the  rare  drugs.  One  of  the  newest- claims  is  that 
made  by  Dr.  Saubermann  of  Berlin,  to  the  effect  that 
radium  can  restore  to  a  normal  condition  the  hard- 
ened arteries  from  which  so  many  persons  suffer  in 
middle  and  old  age.  Should  this  claim  be  confirmed 
it  will  appear  that  radium  has  the  power  to  cause 
absorption  of  the  calcareous  deposits  to  which  hard- 
ening of  the  arteries  is  due.  An  altogether  different 
function  has  been  ascribed  to  another  radioactive 
substance  known  as  thorium  X,  which  is  a  particular- 
ly active  member  of  the  family  of  products,  each 
regarded  as  an  element,  resulting  from  the  disinte- 
gration of  thorium. 

Thorium  X  is  dissolved  in  or  incorporated  with  a 
solution  of  salt,  and  tests  have  been  made  as  to  its 
effects  on  living  tissues.  In  relatively  large  quantities 
it  is  shown  to  be  inhibitive  to  the  cellular  activities. 
Dr.  Francis  E.  Park,  of  Stoneham,  Massachusetts, 
reports  in  the  Medical  Record,  the  results  of  experi- 
ments which  show  that  seeds  soaked  in  strong  solu- 
tions of  thorium  lose  their  power  to  grow,  and  that 
the  drug  may  prove  fatal  to  dogs.  On  the  other 

235 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

hand,  if  given  in  the  right  quantities  it  seems  to  have 
curative  properties.  Its  effects  on  the  cells  of  super- 
ficial cancers  and  of  lupus  are  similar  to  those  of 
radium.  No  harmful  effects  have  been  discovered 
from  its  administration  in  moderate  doses. 

But  the  most  curious  fact  connected  with  the  giving 
of  thorium  X  in  the  experiments  on  dogs  was  that 
after  twenty-four  hours  the  greater  part  of  the  drug 
administered  could  be  recovered  from  the  red  marrow 
of  the  dog's  bones.  It  is  believed  that  one  function 
of  the  marrow  is  to  manufacture  the  all-essential  red 
blood  corpuscles;  and  some  of  the  experimenters  were 
soon  convinced  that  thorium  X  has  unique  power  to 
stimulate  this  function.  Then  Professor  A.  Bickel, 
of  the  University  of  Berlin,  used  thorium  X  in  the 
treatment  of  cases  of  pernicious  anaemia,  a  disease 
in  which,  as  is  well  known,  the  patient  suffers  from  a 
paucity  of  red  blood  corpuscles.  The  results  of  this 
treatment  have  proved  almost  startling.  In  the  case 
of  a  patient  who  received  small  doses  of  thorium  X 
by  the  mouth  three  times  a  day,  the  number  of  red 
blood  corpuscles  in  a  given  quantity  of  blood  in- 
creased in  six  weeks  from  960,000  to  4,600,000.  In 
a  case  reported  by  another  observer  there  was  an  in- 
crease from  340,000  to  860,000  red  cells  in  twenty- 
four  hours. 

In  the  fall  of  1912,  Dr.  Bickel  was  summoned  to 
America  to  treat  a  case  of  pernicious  anaemia  in 
Greenwich,  Connecticut.  In  this  case  there  was  a 
complication  of  heart  and  kidney  diseases  that  pre- 
vented a  favorable  result.  But  Dr.  Park  secured 
from  Dr.  Bickel  a  quantity  of  the  drug  to  use  in  an 

236 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

intractible  case  of  his  own.  He  at  first  used  the 
thorium  in  connection  with  electric  treatment  of 
bones  and  the  solar  plexus.  But  it  appeared  that 
the  electricity  in  some  way  neutralized  the  thorium 
emanation,  as  the  result  of  the  combination  was  not 
satisfactory.  When  the  electricity  was  discontinued, 
and  the  thorium  given  by  itself,  the  patient  at  once 
began  to  gain  in  a  very  decided  manner.  In  the 
course  of  five  weeks  not  only  had  his  blood  count 
risen  from  1,200,000  red  corpuscles  to  5,280,000,  but 
the  general  condition  of  the  patient  had  been  trans- 
formed from  a  state  of  alarming  invalidism  to  one  of 
relative  health. 

Dr.  Park  is  wisely  conservative  as  to  the  ultimate 
outcome,  knowing  that  years  must  elapse  before  we 
can  say  in  such  a  case  that  a  cure  is  permanent.  But 
experience  seems  to  justify  the  conclusion  that 
thorium  X  is  a  remedy  far  more  potent  than  any 
hitherto  known  in  the  treatment  of  the  alarming  and 
by  no  means  rare  condition  of  pernicious  anaemia. 
Unfortunately  the  drug,  like  the  other  radioactive 
substances,  is  very  rare  and  costly.  It  must  be  given 
by  a  skilled  physician,  and  may  best  be  administered 
hypodermically,  preferably  injected  into  a  vein. 

As  bearing  on  the  method  of  operation  of  the 
radioacative  elements,  the  observation  of  two  English 
experimenters,  Drs.  Helen  Chambers  and  S.  Russ, 
on  the  results  of  subjecting  blood  to  the  influence  of 
radium  are  of  interest.  So  far  as  their  observations 
went  the  so-called  beta  and  gamma  rays  of  radium 
(which  are  really  streams  of  electric  corpuscles  and 
X-rays  respectively)  had  no  influence  on  the  blood. 

237 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

On  the  other  hand,  the  alpha  rays,  which  consist  of 
electrified  molecules  of  helium,  produced  important 
changes  in  the  various  constituents  of  the  blood. 

The  red  blood  corpuscles,  under  influence  of  the 
alpha  rays,  were  dissolved  and  their  essential  color- 
ing matter,  known  as  oxy-haemoglobin,  the  oxygen- 
carrying  principle  of  the  blood,  was  changed  into 
met-haemoglobin.  This  would  destroy  the  capacity 
of  the  blood  as  a  carrier  of  oxygen. 

In  a  somewhat  similar  way  the  white  blood  cor- 
puscles were  seen  to  undergo  marked  degenerative 
changes  under  influence  of  the  alpha  rays.  During 
the  process  of  clotting,  the  white  blood  corpuscles 
appeared  to  move  away  from  the  alpha  radiating 
region.  This  movement  is  theoretically  explained  as 
due  to  changes  in  the  surface  tension  of  blood  serum 
when  radiated. 

Not  only  were  the  corpuscular  elements  of  the 
blood  thus  destroyed,  but  the  specific  properties  of 
the  blood  serum  through  which  normal  blood  com- 
bats the  influence  of  bacteria,  were  rapidly  exhausted 
under  influence  of  the  alpha  rays.  Thus  the  substance 
known  as  opsonin,  the  function  of  which  is  to  make 
bacteria  more  readily  digestible  by  the  white  blood 
corpuscles,  ceased  to  exercise  its  characteristic  prop- 
erty. In  a  word,  the  effect  of  the  radiation  was  to 
change  completely  the  character  of  the  blood,  and 
utterly  to  eliminate  the  qualities  upon  which  its  "life- 
giving"  influence  depends. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  these  effects  of  radium 
radiation  with  the  observations  of  those  experiment- 
ers, notably  Mr.  John  Butler  Burke  of  Cambridge 

238 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

University,  who  have  sought  to  generate  life  in  the 
test  tube  through  the  aid  of  radium  salts,  Mr.  Burke's 
experiments,  which  were  so  much  talked  about  for  a 
time,  consisted  in  sprinkling  a  radioactive  salt  upon 
the  surface  of  a  sterilized  solution  of  meat  extract 
or  bouillon.  In  due  course  there  developed  in  the 
bouillion  minute  particles,  which  increased  in  size, 
developed  what  looked-  like  nuclei,  and  ultimately 
multiplied  by  division  very  much  as  do  living  micro- 
organisms. In  a  word  these  "radiobes,"  as  they  were 
christened,  showed  very  curious  resemblance  to  liv- 
ing organisms,  somewhat  of  the  nature  of  bacteria. 

Presently,  however,  the  curious  particles  were  seen 
to  split  up  into  bodies  much  more  closely  suggestive 
of  microscopic  crystals.  Moreover,  these  crystalline 
bodies  could  be  dissolved  in  water,  which  of  course 
is  not  true  of  any  bacterium.  So  it  was  very  clear 
that  the  radiobes  differed  widely  from  any  known 
form  of  life. 
^  In  general  biologists  are  disposed  to  consider  that 

he  radiobes  represent  disintegration  products  of  the 
organic  substances  in  the  bouillon  rather  than  pro- 

oplasmic  bodies.  Mr.  Burke,  however,  holds  to  the 
view  that  the  radiobes  bridge,  more  or  less  roughly, 

he  gap  between  living  and  non-living  matter,  and 

hat  it  is  at  least  possible  that  they  give  a  clue  to  the 

Beginning  and  the  end  of  life. 

LIGHT  AS  A  GERMICIDE 

It  is  obvious,  then,  that  the  strange  radiations  that 
emanate  from  the  new  radioactive  substances  sustain 
very  curious  relations  to  organic  matter.  Meantime 

239 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

there  are  radiations  of  a  more  familiar  type  that  have 
recently  been  shown  to  influence  living  tissues  in  a 
way  no  less  interesting. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  the  rays  of  sunlight 
furnish,  the  all-essential  stimuli  that  make  possible 
the  work  of  the  vegetable  cell  in  performing  the  mir- 
acles of  transforming  inorganic  into  living  matter. 
It  now  appears  that  the  same  light  also  contains  rays 
that  are  directly  inimical  to  the  life  of  lower  vege- 
table organisms.  The  fact  was  first  demonstrated  in 
connection  with  the  treatment  of  the  superficial  ma- 
lignant growth  known  as  lupus,  which  is  due  to  the 
presence  of  the  tubercle  bacillus,  growing  in  a  local- 
ized colony,  and  not  tending  to  spread  inordinately, 
but  proving  so  tenacious  of  its  hold  upon  the  territory 
already  invaded  that  it  was  formerly  regarded  as  al- 
most ineradicable  even  with  the  use  of  the  knife. 

About  the  year  1895,  a  Danish  physician,  Dr.  N. 
R.  Finsen,  developed  a  treatment  for  lupus  which  con- 
sists in  exposing  the  diseased  tissue  to  a  concentrated 
beam  of  light  rich  in  ultra  violet  rays ;  that  is  to  say, 
in  the  ethereal  vibrations  lying  just  beyond  the  violet 
end  of  the  spectrum,  and  thus  composed  of  light 
waves  that  are  shorter  than  the  shortest  visible  ones. 

Dr.  Finsen  demonstrated  that  these  short  waves  of 
light  destroy  bacteria.  He  was  able  with  their  aid 
to  kill  the  tubercle  bacilli  in  the  diseased  tissues  and 
thus  to  cure  a  very  large  proportion  of  cases  of  lupus. 
Ultra  violet  light  thus  used  came  to  be  known  as 
the  "Finsen  ray." 

The  germicidal  effect  of  ultra-violet  light  has  since 
been  everywhere  recognized.  The  treatment  of  tu- 

240 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

berculosis  by  direct  sunlight,  as  carried  out  in  hospi- 
tals established  at  high  altitudes  in  the  Alps,  owes  its 
efficacy  to  the  ultra-violet  rays  coming  directly  from 
the  sun.  These  rays,  however,  are  obstructed  by  the 
air,  and  they  have  largely  disappeared  from  sunlight 
at  the  sea  level.  They  are  altogether  obstructed  by 
glass;  so  the  sun  treatment  of  tuberculosis  must  be 
carried  out  in  the  open  air.  It  may  be  added  that  the 
children  who  receive  this  treatment  in  the  Alpine  hos- 
pitals are  gradually  inured  to  the  cold  until  they  can 
without  discomfort  take  their  sunbaths  in  the  open 
air  stark  naked  even  in  the  coldest  weather. 

Practical  use  has  been  made  of  the  bactericidal 
properties  of  ultra-violet  light  in  the  purification  of 
water.  But  the  application  of  the  method  to  the  puri- 
fication of  milk  has  hitherto  proved  impracticable  be- 
cause, owing  to  the  opacity  of  milk,  the  rays  do  not 
penetrate  its  substance  to  any  considerable  distance, 
and  therefore  leave  the  main  bulk  of  the  germs  un- 
touched. 

It  would  appear,  however,  that  a  method  has  now 
been  found  to  overcome  this  difficulty.  The  new 
method  consists  of  the  use  of  plates  of  quartz  placed 
very  close  together,  so  that  the  milk  passes  between 
them  in  a  thin  film,  and  is  thus  sufficiently  transparent 
to  be  suffused  with  the  light  of  a  mercury  vapor 
electric  lamp,  the  rays  of  which  after  passing  through 
quartz  are  very  rich  in  the  short  waves  that  char- 
acterize the  spectrum  beyond  the  violet. 

The  apparatus  in  question  is  merely  a  modified 
form  of  Mr.  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt's  quartz  lamp;  but 
rather  curiously  the  experiments  in  sterilizing  milk 

241 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

with  the  apparatus  are  being  made  in  France.  The' 
reason  for  this,  Mr.  Hewitt  explains,  is  that  his  quartz 
lamps  are  being  extensively  used  in  France  in  steriliz- 
ing drinking  water,  and  their  efficacy  in  this  connec- 
tion led  to  the  idea  of  a  similar  purification  of  milk. 

The  French  standards  of  purification  for  water  are 
gatifyingly  different  from  those  of  some  American 
cities.  The  water  is  filtered  and  refiltered  until  it  is 
so  nearly  free  from  all  impurities  as  to  attain  a  de- 
gree of  transparency  that  permits  print  to  be  read  with 
a  telescope  through  eight  meters,  or  about  26  feet  of 
water.  Even  water  of  this  degree  of  limpidity  may 
contain  large  numbers  of  bacteria.  But  when  the 
water  has  been  caused  to  flow  in  a  zigzag  channel  past 
a  large  quartz  lamp,  specially  devised  for  the  purpose, 
the  germs  thus  acted  on  by  the  ultra  violet  rays  are 
found  to  be  either  dead  or  so  devitalized  that  they 
have  very  slight  power  of  reproduction  and  hence 
are  innocuous. 

Should  the  present  experiments  prove  conclusively 
that  all  the  bacteria  in  milk  are  similarly  killed  by  the 
ultra  violet  rays,  the  observation  will  be  one  of  vast 
practical  importance,  as  means  will  be  afforded  of 
sterilizing  milk,  which,  it  would  seem,  must  be  su- 
perior to  any  previous  method.  For  the  moment,  how- 
ever, the  familiar  method  of  pasteurization,  which 
consists  of  heating  milk  to  about  142  degrees  Fahren- 
heit for  a  period  of  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  is 
the  recognized  method  of  rendering  this  beverage 
wholesome. 

The  pasteurization  of  milk  is  carried  out  on  a  very 
large  scale  by  our  modern  dairies.  After  being  pas- 

242 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

teurized  the  milk  is  cooled  by  being  allowed  to  pour 
down  in  miniature  cataracts  over  successive  pipes, 
the  upper  ones  of  which  contain  cool  water,  and  the 
lower  ones  brine  almost  at  a  freezing  temperature. 
The  milk  is  thus  chilled  in  a  few  minutes  and  is  im- 
mediately placed  in  sterilized  bottles. 

Some  interesting  observations  were  recently  made 
by  the  New  York  Health  Department  in  co-operation 
with  the  Rockefeller  Institute,  the  subjects  being  500 
•babies  in  the  New  York  Tenements.  According  to 
the  observations,  as  reported  by  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Park, 
Director  of  the  Research  Laboratory  of  the  Health 
Department,  2  per  cent,  of  babies  using  certified 
raw  milk  died,  as  did  8  per  cent,  of  babies  using  good 
raw  milk,  and  14  per  cent,  of  babies  using  grocery 
store  milk;  in  addition  to  which  66  per  cent,  of  the 
babies  using  grocery  store  milk  became  ill  and  re- 
quired medical  attention. 

Meantime  not  a  single  baby  died  of  the  group 
using  pasteurized  milk. 

Dr.  Park  emphasizes  the  fact  that  mother's  milk 
is  the  best  milk  for  a  baby,  but  his  observations  show 
that  pasteurized  milk  is  next  best.  According  to 
Mr.  Hewitt,  it  is  believed  by  the  French  chemists 
who  are  testing  the  new  method  of  sterilizing  milk 
with  the  ultra  violet  rays  that  milk  purified  by  this 
method  will  be  even  more  wholesome  than  pasteur- 
ized milk.  To  appreciate  the  importance  of  the 
subject,  it  is  only  necessary  to  reflect  that  bacterial 
diseases  of  infancy,  the  major  part  of  which  have 
their  inception  in  the  ingestion  of  infected  milk,  con- 
stitute the  deadliest  of  all  plagues  to  which  the  modern 

243 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

world  is  subject.    One  fifth  of  all  deaths  occur  in  early 
infancy. 

A  NEW  REMEDY  FOR  CATTLE  PLAGUE 

Reference  has  been  made  to  Professor  Ehrlich's 
attempted  cure  of  sleeping  sickness.  This  very  fatal 
disease,  which  fortunately  is  confined  to  the  tropics, 
was  studied  at  first  hand  by  a  commission  under  Dr. 
Robert  Koch,  who  discovered  that  the  agent  of  its 
transmission  from  one  subject  to  another  is  the  tsetse 
fly.  The  germ  that  causes  this  disease  as  already 
noted,  is  not  a  bacterium  but  a  protozoon;  that  is  to 
say  a  single-celled  animal  organism  of  the  lowest 
type.  It  has  come  to  be  known  in  recent  years  that 
many  other  tropical  diseases  are  due  to  similar  proto- 
zoal  organisms.  The  plasmodium  of  malaria  is  also 
of  the  same  type. 

The  protozoal  germs  differ  from  the  bacteria  in  that 
they  for  the  most  part  have  a  double  cycle  of  life 
transformations,  the  two  stages  of  their  develop- 
ment being  passed  in  the  organisms  of  different  ani- 
mals. In  the  case  of  the  malaria  plasmodium,  for 
example,  as  was  first  demonstrated  by  the  Englishman 
Dr.  Ronald  Ross,  one  stage  of  development  is  passed 
in  the  organism  of  a  mosquito  of  the  genus  Anopheles, 
which  transmits  the  germ  to  the  human  subject  in 
whose  blood  stream  it  undergoes  the  remaining 
stages  of  its  development. 

The  various  tropical  contagious  diseases  are  almost 
without  exception  transmitted  by  parasitical  insects, — 
yellow  fever,  for  example,  by  a  mosquito  of  a  different 
genus  from  that  which  transmits  malaria,  the  Asiatic 

244 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

plague  by  fleas,  and  various  cattle  plagues  and  at 
least  one  disease  of  the  temperate  zone,  the  Rocky 
Mountain  fever,  by  ticks. 

In  recent  years  the  study  of  tropical  diseases  has 
become  a  special  department  of  medicine,  but  the 
laboratories  in  which  the  investigations  are  pvose- 
cuted  are  not  necessarily  located  in  the  tropics.  In 
point  of  fact  perhaps  the  chief  center  of  such  studies 
is  at  Cambridge  University,  England.  The  biologist 
in  charge  of  this  department  of  investigation  is  Dr. 
George  H.  F.  Nuttall.  His  official  position  is  that  of 
Quick  Professor  of  Biology.  Professor  Nuttall's  stud- 
ies of  the  blood  have  given  him  international  repu- 
tation. In  view  of  his  professorship  at  Cambridge, 
and  the  further  fact  that  he  is  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society,  it  is  of  peculiar  interest  to  note  that  he  is 
an  American.  His  chief  work,  however,  has  been 
done  in  Germany  and  at  Cambridge. 

The  coveted  honor  of  election  to  Fellowship  in 
the  Royal  Society  was  given  Professor  Nuttall  in 
recognition  of  a  very  remarkable  series  of  blood  tests 
of  which  account  has  been  given  in  another  chapter. 
A  still  more  recent  investigation  of  Professor  Nuttall 
has  to  do  with  a  class  of  tropical  animal  diseases  the 
germs  of  which  are  transmitted  from  one  animal  to 
another  by  ticks.  The  most  important  disease  of  this 
class  from  an  American  standpoint  is  the  cattle  plague 
known  as  Texas  fever. 

The  discovery  that  ticks  transmit  this  disease  was 
made  by  an  American,  Dr.  Theobald  Smith,  as  long 
ago  as  1889,  and  a  method  was  devised  whereby  the 
animals  were  rid  of  the  pests  by  being  made  to  swim 

245 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

through  a  tank  containing  an  antiseptic  solution. 
But  no  remedy  for  the  disease  itself  was  discovered 
until  Professor  Nuttall  began  experimenting  two  or 
three  years  ago  with  the  drug  known  as  trypan-blue. 
The  investigation  was  conducted  at  the  experi- 
mental station  at  Cambridge,  but  the  tests  have  since 
been  repeated  on  a  more  extensive  scale  in  South 
Africa;  and  it  would  appear  that  a  valuable  antidote 
for  this  malignant  disease  has  been  discovered.  An 
objection  to  its  use  exists,  however,  in  the  case  of 
animals  that  are  to  be  slaughtered  for  beef,  in  that 
the  drug  is  a  dye  which  stains  the  tissues  more  or 
less  permanently. 

TRANSFORMING  THE  PANAMA  CANAL  ZONE 

Professor  Nuttall  has  given  much  atention  to  an- 
other and  even  more  important  tropical  disease  of 
which  man  himself  is  the  direct  victim,  namely,  the 
plague.  British  interest  is  kept  constantly  stimulat- 
ed by  the  prevalence  of  the  plague  in  India,  where 
almost  6,000,000  deaths  occurred  from  this  disease 
in  the  decade  1896-1907.  The  subject  is  of  equal 
interest  from  an  American  standpoint  because  our 
own  ports  are  from  time  to  time  threatened  with  an 
invasion  of  the  plague.  Tropical  diseases  in  general 
are  given  a  new  aspect  by  the  work  that  American 
physicians  have  recently  accomplished  in  the  region 
of  the  Panama  Canal. 

As  to  the  latter,  almost  everyone  knows  in  a  general 
way  that  a  once  pestilential  region  has  been  made 
healthful,  but  comparatively  few  persons  who  have 
not  visited  the  Canal  Zone  realize  how  radical  has 

246 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

been  the  metamorphosis  effected  by  Col.  W.  C. 
Gorgas,  U.  S.  A.,  the  Chief  Sanitary  Officer,  and"  his 
associates. 

An  outline  of  the  work  accomplished  is  given  in  an 
interesting  article  in  a  recent  issue  of  the  Medical 
Record,  by  Dr.  J.  Ewing  Hears,  of  Philadelphia.  He 
points  out  that  the  Isthmus  has  been  known  since  the 
discovery  of  America  as  one  of  the  most  unhealthful 
regions  of  the  globe;  virtually  uninabitable  to  any 
but  the  few  natives,  who  themselves  fell  victims  in 
great  numbers  to  the  deadly  scourges  of  malaria  and 
yellow  fever. 

When  an  attempt  was  made  in  1849  to  construct  a 
railway  across  the  Isthmus,  so  many  laborers  per- 
ished from  disease  that  it  became  a  proverbial  say- 
ing that  every  railway  tie  represented  the  dead  body 
of  a  workman. 

Trig  project  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  prosecuted  by  the 
French  from  1881  to  1892  may  be  described  as  a  hope- 
less contest  waged  against  disease.  "In  five  years  the 
French  lost  eleven-sixteenths  of  their  working  force, 
one-third  of  the  number  French  subjects.  Out  of  the 
twenty-four  Sisters  of  Chanty  engaged  in  nursing  in 
the  Ancon  Hospital,  twenty  died  of  yellow  fever.  Of 
seventeen  engineers  who  came  on  one  steamer,  six- 
teen died."  Little  wonder  that  the  French  gave  up 
the  fight. 

When  Colonel  Gorgas  took  charge  of  the  sanitary 
policing  of  the  Canal  Zone  in  1904,  the  conditions  had 
not  greatly  changed.  But  within  a  single  year  he  had 
so  transformed  them  as  virtually  to  have  banished 
yellow  fever,  no  single  case  of  which  has  occurred 

247 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

in  the  Canal  Zone  since  1905.  It  has  not  been  pos- 
sible to  deal  with  malaria  in  quite  so  radical  a  fashion; 
but  this  disease  also  has  been  held  in  check  and  in  a 
large  measure  rendered  innocuous. 

As  contrasted  with  the  appalling  mortality  of  the 
workmen  under  the  French  regime,  it  is  sufficient  to 
note  that  "in  the  year  1909  the  annual  death  rate  per 
thousand  of  11,662  white  employes  was  6.43  from  dis- 
ease, and  3.43  from  violence;  total'  9.86.  Of  Ameri- 
cans, of  the  8,386,  including  employes  and  their  fami- 
lies, the  death  rate  per  thousand  was :  From  disease 
4.05;  from  violence  2.27;  total  6.32."  So  far  as  death 
from  disease  is  concerned,  this  showing  can  be  dupli- 
cated in  very  few  communities  of  our  most  healthful 
regions  anywhere  in  the  world.  The  average  annual 
death  rate  in  the  United  States  is  about  17  per  thou- 
sand. 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  TROPICAL  FEVERS 

Interesting  as  these  figures  are  in  themselves,  they 
become  doubly  significant  when  we  reflect  that  the 
results  which  they  herald  have  been  achieved 
through  the  rigid  application  of  preventative  meas- 
ures based  upon  recently  acquired  knowledge  as  to 
the  causation  of  disease.  It  is  true  that  Dr.  A.  F.  A. 
King,  of  Philadelphia,  suggested  as  long  ago  as  1883 
that  malaria  might  be  transmitted  by  the  mosquito, 
but  no  one  paid  any  attention  to  his  suggestion,  and 
it  remained  for  Dr.  Ronald  Ross  to  show  that  the  mos- 
quito is  the  real  offender  so  recently  as  1898. 

Similarly  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Nott  that  yellow 
fever  might  be  transmitted  by  the  mosquito,  made  in 

248 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

1848,  remained  quite  unheeded;  as  did  Dr.  Charles  J. 
Finlay's  more  detailed  contention  put  forward  in 
1881.  It  was  not  until  1900  that  the  American  au- 
thorities in  Cuba  were  prevailed  upon  by  Dr.  Finlay  to 
investigate  his  theory.  Tests  were  made  in  which  the 
lives  of  several  army  surgeons  were  jeopardized  and 
that  of  one — Dr.  Lazear — sacrificed.  But  in  the  end 
the  accuracy  of  the  view  that  Dr.  Finlay  had  so  long 
held  was  demonstrated. 

Then  it  became  clear  that  malaria  and  yellow  fever 
are  absolutely  preventable  diseases;  that  in  order  to 
eliminate  them  it  would  only  be  necessary  to  check 
the  development  of  two  tribes  of  mosquitoes — for  it 
is  a  curious  fact  that  only  mosquitoes  of  the  genus 
Anopheles  can  serve  as  host  for  the  malarial  germ, 
while  only  those  of  the  genus  Stegomyia  can  act  in 
similar  capacity  for  the  germ  of  yellow  fever. 

The  elimination  of  mosquitoes  might  seem,  indeed, 
to  be  no  easy  task;  but  that  it  is  feasible  in  a  region 
under  strict  military  surveillance  to  guard  against 
them  most  effectively,  is  clearly  demonstrated  in  the 
results  achieved  by  Colonel  Gorgas. 

BANISHING  THE  PEST-DISSEMINATING  RAT 

While  yellow  fever  and  malaria  are  thus  guarded 
against  through  the  waging  of  incessant  war  upon  the 
mosquito,  the  danger  of  the  introduction  of  plague  is 
minimized  by  equally  strenuous  measures  directed 
against  the  common  house  rat,  since  this  animal 
serves  as  the  host  of  the  fleas  that  are  the  chief  trans- 
mitters of  the  dreaded  "black  death." 

It  is  now  fully  recognized  that  when  the  plague 

17  249 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

gains  admission  at  a  port  it  is  brought  by  rats  that 
have  escaped  from  shipboard.  Rats  may  transmit  the 
disease  to  allied  animals.  In  this  way,  for  example, 
many  of  the  ground  squirrels  have  become  infected 
in  California;  and  in  one  case  at  least  a  child  acquired 
the  disease  through  being  bitten  by  one  these  animals. 

Obviously,  then,  there  is  no  ultimate  safety  except 
through  destruction  of  the  rats.  But  in  the  mean 
time  much  may  be  accomplished  in  the  Canal  Zone  by 
either  raising  the  houses  three  feet  from  the  ground 
on  supports  of  concrete  or  other  material,  covered 
with  tin,  so  that  the  rats  cannot  secure  a  footing  on 
them.  If  placed  on  the  ground  they  must  rest  on  a 
floor  of  concrete.  The  buildings  are  submitted  to  in- 
spection at  regular  intervals;  those  not  in  a  sanitary 
condition  in  the  cities  must  be  placed  in  that  condition, 
if  possible,  by  the  owner,  or  they  are  condemned  and 
destroyed. 

Furthermore  direct  war  has  been  waged  upon  the 
rat.  Thus  17,000  of  these  animals  were  killed  in  Pana- 
ma City  in  a  single  year.  So  rigid  has  been  the  in- 
spection of  ships,  and  so  effective  the  warfare  upon 
the  rats  that  the  plague  has  gained  no  foothold. 

THE  "TYPHOID  FLY"  AND  ANTI-TYPHOID  VACCINE 

The  chief  remaining  diseases  that  formerly  ravaged 
the  Canal  Zone  are  typhoid  fever  and  cholera.  These 
diseases  also  depend  to  a  considerable  extent  for 
transmission  upon  an  insect  host,  the  offender  this, 
time  being  the  common  housefly.  War  is  waged  upon 
the  fly,  as  upon  the  mosquito,  chiefly  by  destroying  its 
breeding  places.  So  effective  have  been  these  pre- 
250 


•    :  J/i ;'  ; 

'  '       '"  '     " 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

ventative  measures  that  according  to  Dr.  Hears  "the 
fly  has  now  become  a  rara  avis  within  the  Zone  limits, 
and  is  very  much  less  abundant  than  in  the  villages 
and  towns  of  our  country."  Dr.  Hears  declares  that 
during  his  stay  in  the  Canal  Zone  he  saw  but  a  sin- 
gle specimen;  and  we  may  readily  accept  his  asser- 
tion that  the  comfort  enjoyed  owing  to  their  absence 
is  very  great. 

Unlike  the  flea  and  the  mosquito,  the  fly  does  not 
transmit  the  disease  germs  directly  to  the  human 
subject.  Its  action  is  indirect,  in  that  it  contaminates 
the  foodstuffs.  Food  or  milk  brought  from  a  distance 
may  thus  convey  typhoid  or  cholera;  but  fortunately 
science  is  now  provided,  as  we  have  seen,  with  the 
means  of  combatting  these  diseases  through  inocu- 
lations that  render  the  subject  immune.  We  have 
seen  that  the  anti-typhoid  vaccine  was  developed  at 
the  beginning  of  our  new  century  by  Dr.  (now  Sir 
Almroth)  Wright,  then  of  the  British  Army  service  in 
India,  but  it  made  its  way  rather  slowly,  and  its  use 
in  the  United  States  Army  was  not  made  obligatory 
until  August,  1911.  The  New  York  Board  of  Health 
began  to  manufacture  it  and  dispense  it  for  free  ad- 
ministration in  1913. 

The  significance  of  this  new  agent  of  preventive 
medicine  can  be  realized  only  by  those  who  have  a 
clear  conception  as  to  how  great  a  scourge  typhoid 
fever  has  always  been  in  the  past.  In  war  time  it 
has  regularly  claimed  more  victims  than  the  enemy's 
bullets.  Our  troops  in  Cuba,  as  everyone  will  recall, 
were  decimated  by  this  scourge,  which  "stalked 
through  the  camp,  apparently  unrestrained,  laying  low 

251 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

one-sixth  of  the  entire  command."  There  is  every 
prospect  that  all  this  will  now  be  changed.  Typhoid 
fever,  thanks  to  the  new  knowledge  of  sanitation,  com- 
bined with  the  use  of  the  preventive  vaccine,  will  be 
as  thoroughly  subject  to  scientific  control  as  small- 
pox has  been  since  the  original  vaccine  demonstration 
of  Jenner. 

AN  INSPIRING  OBJECT  LESSON 

The  report  of  the  Department  of  Sanitation  of  the 
Isthmian  Canal  Commission  for  1912  shows  that 
the  extraordinary  work  of  making  a  once  pestilential 
region  salubrious  has  been  carried  one  stage  farther 
by  Colonel  Gorgas  and  his  associates,  the  death  rate 
among  employes  being  lower  than  ever  before.  It  ap- 
pears that  in  1906  the  death  rate  among  employes 
was  41.73  per  thousand,  and  in  1907  28.74  per  thou- 
sand, whereas  in  1911,  it  was  11.02,  and  in  1912  only 
9.18  per  thousand.  The  death  rate  among  white  em- 
ployes was  only  3.25  per  thousand,  and  the  death  rate 
from  disease  in  the  army  in  the  calendar  year  1911, 
was  only  2.66  per  thousand. 

As  to  specific  diseases,  we  find  that  in  1907  there 
were  98  deaths  from  typhoid  fever,  in  1912  only  4 
deaths  from  this  disease.  Pneumonia  claimed  328 
victims  in  1907,  and  only  57  in  1912;  and  malaria, 
which  caused  233  deaths  in  1906,  caused  only  20  in 
1912. 

Considering  the  death  rate  of  the  total  population 
including  the  cities  of  Panama,  Colon,  and  the  Canal 
Zone,  the  statistics  show  an  equally  striking  better- 
ment in  recent  years.  The  death  rate  per  thousand 

252 


BANISHING    THE    PLAGUES 

in  1905  was  49.94;  in  1912  it  was  20.49.  As  regards 
the  former  scourges  of  the  region,  Colonel  Gorgas 
reports  as  follows:  One  case  of  yellow  fever  on  a 
ship  from  Guayaquil,  Ecuador,  was  isolated  in  Santo 
Tomas  Hospital  and  died  there  on  July  14th.  With 
this  exception,  no  case  of  yellow  fever,  plague  or 
smallpox  occured  on  the  Isthmus  during  the  year." 

It  should  be  understood,  however,  that  the  work 
of  making  the  Canal  Zone  permanently  salubrious 
is  by  no  means  completed.  The  monthly  report  for 
February,  1913,  shows  that  the  task  of  making  ditches 
to  drain  areas  where  the  mosquitoes  breed  is  still 
under  way,  and  that  there  are  regions  where  the  dead- 
ly Anopheles,  the  carrier  of  malaria  germs,  still  exists 
in  sufficient  numbers  to  be  a  menace.  The  report  tells 
of  tests  with  mosquitoes  stained  for  indemnification, 
in  which  the  marked  individuals  were  found  at  a  dis- 
tance of  6,000  feet,  or  considerably  over  a  mile,  from 
where  they  were  liberated. 

This  fact  will  be  of  interest  to  the  local  health  au- 
thorities of  many  regions  of  the  temperate  zone,  inas- 
much as  there  has  been  a  prevailing  opinion  that  a 
mosquito  can  travel  but  a  short  distance  from  its 
breeding  haunts.  It  becomes  evident  that  local  health 
boards  who  wish  to  protect  their  villages  from  inva- 
sion by  the  malaria-carrying  mosquito  must  pay 
attention  to  ponds  or  other  reservoirs  of  stagnant 
water  for  a  radius  of  more  than  a  mile. 

A  long  time  will  doubtless  elapse  before  such  con- 
ditions as  Colonel  Gorgas  has  brought  about  in  the 
Canal  Zone  will  obtain  widely  in  tropical  regions. 
Nevertheless,  the  object  lesson  has  already  inspired 

253 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

the  authorities  of  some  cities  to  emulation.  An  idea 
of  what  may  be  done  may  be  gained  from  a  specific 
illustration  given  by  Dr.  Mears.  He  says: 

"In  a  visit  made  in  the  past  winter  to  South  Amer- 
ica, I  landed  in  Santos,  Brazil,  a  city  of  41,000  popu- 
lation, and  one  of  the  best  ports  on  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  A  few'years  ago  this  port  was  devastated 
by  raging  epidemics  of  yellow  fever.  To  such  an  ex- 
tent did  the  disease  prevail  that  vessels  coming  into 
the  port  lost  in  several  instances,  and  very  quickly, 
their  entire  crews  from  the  disease,  officers  and  men, 
before  they  could  be  unloaded.  It  was  told  of  one 
instance  in  which  a  vessel  lay  anchored  in  the  harbor 
for  a  period  of  eighteen  months  undischarged,  with 
cargo  perishing  in  the  hold. 

"Inspired  by  the  fact  that  this  city  was  the  great- 
est shipping  port  of  coffee  in  the  world,  tne  govern- 
ment and  municipal  authorities  inaugurated  a  system 
of  modern  hygienic  improvements  which  banished 
yellow  fever,  converting  its  beautiful  harbor  from 
a  home  of  pestilence  into  an  attractive  seaside  home, 
with  the  ships  of  many  nations  unloading  and  load- 
ing in  guaranteed  security  alongside  of  its  commo- 
dious and  well-arranged  quays." 

Such  an  illustration  presents  in  a  vivid  light  the 
enormous  economic  importance  of  these  newest  tri- 
umphs of  medical  science.  The  conquest  of  malaria, 
yellow  fever,  plague,  and  typhoid  fever  will  not  only 
metamorphose  the  conditions  of  life  for  the  present 
residents  of  the  tropics,  but  will  open  up  vast  equa- 
torial regions  that  hitherto  have  been  uninhabitable. 


IX 
WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

IF  you  were  asked  to  define  a  compass,  you  would 
probably  say  that  it  is  essentially  a  magnetized 
needle,  so  balanced  that  it  can  point  to  the  North  Pole. 
If  asked  to  be  a  little  more  accurate  you  would  per- 
haps explain  that  the  magnetized  needle  does  not 
point  to  the  true  pole,  but  toward  a  "magnetic  pole" 
several  hundred  miles  removed  from  the  earth's  axis. 

If  still  greater  accuracy  were  required,  you  might 
add  that  the  magnetic  needle  varies  the  exact  direc- 
tion of  its  pointing  with  different  longitudes  of  the 
earth's  surface;  that  it  suffers  deflection  from  various 
cosmic  disturbances,  including  sun  spots;  and  that  it 
is  very  notably  influenced  by  the  proximity  of  any 
magnetic  metal,  so  that  the  compass  on  an  iron  or 
steel  ship  requires  a  variety  of  adjustments  and  cor- 
rections. But  you  might  affirm,  and  until  very  re- 
cently you  would  have  been  quite  correct  in  affirming, 
that  notwithstanding  these  defects  the  magnetic  com- 
pass is  the  sole  reliance  of  the  mariner  in  steering 
his  ship  in  cloudy  or  foggy  weather,  and  that  lacking 
this  instrument,  no  navigator  would  dare  to  head  the 
prow  of  his  vessel  very  far  out  of  sight  of  land. 

Such  being  the  traditional  attributes  of  the  com- 
pass, it  is  rather  startling  to  learn  that  there  has 

255 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

recently  been  devised  a  form  of  that  instrument  which 
utterly  negatives  all  that  has  just  been  said.  The 
newest  compass,  and  the  one  with  which  eight  or  ten 
of  our  largest  battleships  are  now  equipped,  has  to 
do  neither  with  magnetic  needles  nor  with  the  mag- 
netic poles.  It  is  quite  uninfluenced  by  the  proximity 
of  metals,  utterly  disregarding  the  steel  structure  of 
the  ship.  And  in  whatever  latitude  or  longitude  the 
ship  may  lie,  this  new  and  revolutionary  non-magnetic 
compass  points  inflexibly,  straight  in  the  line  of  the 
earth's  true  pole  or  axis  of  revolution,  taking  no  cog- 
nizance whatever  of  magnetic  meridians. 

The  magnetic  compass  of  the  ordinary  ocean  liner 
is  placed  on  the  upper  deck,  as  far  as  possible  from  the 
steel  structure  of  the  ship,  and  it  is  carefully  correct- 
ed for  the  disturbing  influence  of  the  particular  ship 
in  which  it  is  placed.  After  such  correction  is  made, 
no  metal  is  allowed  near  the  compass.  The  blade  of 
a  jackknife  in  a  man's  pocket,  or  the  steel  ribs  in  a 
woman's  corset,  if  anywhere  near  the  compass,  might 
deflect  it  sufficiently  to  disturb  the  calculations  of 
the  navigator. 

In  the  case  of  the  battleship,  it  is  impossible  to 
make  permanent  correction  for  all  the  disturbances 
due  to  the  steel  structures  of  which  the  entire  ship  is 
composed.  The  turning  of  a  turret  of  a  warship  in 
action  suffices  to  put  the  best  magnetic  compass  di- 
rectly out  of  commission.  And  at  best  the  warship 
is  navigated  in  foggy  or  cloudy  weather  with  an  ele- 
ment of  uncertainty  as  to  just  what  magnetic  influ- 
ences may  be  disturbing  the  compass. 

But  the  new  compass  of  which  I  speak  does  away 

256 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

with  all  these  difficulties.  It  may  be  placed  far  down 
in  the  depths  of  the  steel  hull,  away  from  danger  of 
shot  and  shell.  In  fact  the  chief  compass  is  so  placed 
in  our  recent  battleships,  being  connected  by  wire 
with  various  smaller  repeating  compasses  whi-ch  may 
be  distributed  about  the  ship  at  any  desired  place. 
Thus  located,  deep  in  the  hold,  surrounded  by  struc- 
tures of  steel,  near  guns  and  under  turrets  that  are 
likely  to  shift  position,  the  ordinary  magnetic  compass 
would  be  absolutely  useless.  But  the  new  compass 
operates  under  these  conditions  precisely  as  it  would 
operate  on  the  "Carnegie"  a  ship  which,  as  .perhaps 
the  reader  is  aware,  is  composed  of  wood,  and  the  en- 
tire structure  of  which,  so  far  as  possible,  has  been 
equipped  with  non-magnetic  appliances  in  order  that 
it  may  exert  no  disturbing  influence  on  the  compass, 
and  thus  may  be  used  for  a  survey  of  the  conditions  of 
the  earth's  magnetism  in  hitherto  uncharted  seas. 

Add  that  the  new  compass,  as  installed  in  our  bat- 
tleships, seeks  the  true  north  with  a  force  hundreds 
of  times  stronger  than  that  which  impels  the  magnet- 
ized needle  of  the  ordinary  compass  to  point  toward 
the  magnetic  pole,  and  we  gain  a  still  clearer  impres- 
sion of  the  preeminent  qualities  of  this  revolutionary 
apparatus. 

But  what,  it  will  naturally  be  asked,  is  the  principle 
on  which  the  new  compass  works?  What  non-mag- 
netic force  is  there  that  can  conceivably  cause  a  sus- 
pended bar  of  metal  to  point  rigidly  to  the  north  how- 
ever its  supports  may  be  shifted?  The  answer  is  that 
the  force  which  produces  this  extraordinary  effect 
is  due  to  the  rotation  of  the  earth  itself,  The  appara.- 

257 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

tus  through  which  the  force  is  manifested  is  intrins- 
ically nothing  more  mysterious  than  a  spinning  top. 
The  principle  involved  is  that  of  gyroscopic  action. 
Some  one  has  said  that  the  spinning  top  is  the  play- 
thing of  children  and  the  marvel  of  sages.  The  first 
proposition  expresses  a  familiar  truth;  the  force  of 
the  second  will  become  increasingly  manifest  as  we 
pass  in  review  some  wonderful  applications  to  which 
the  gyroscope  has  been  put  in  very  recent  years,  one 
of  which  has  just  been  suggested.  We  shall  see  pres- 
ently that  the  same  mysterious — yet  in  a  sense  quite 
explicable — force  which  supplies  us  with  a  perfected 
compass  gives  us  also  an  apparatus  that  will  prevent  a 
ship  from  rolling  at  sea;  an  allied  apparatus  that  will 
balance  a  railway  car  on  a  single  rail;  and  yet  another 
apparatus  that  will  stabilize  an  aeroplane,  holding 
that  craft  on  an  even  keel  in  the  midst  of  tempests 
and  fluctuating  air  currents,  with  a  facility  far  sur- 
passing the  most  dexterous  efforts  of  the  most  accom- 
plished human  aviator. 

There  are  other  minor  feats  of  stabilizing  also 
which  we  shall  find  not  without  interest;  but  these 
three  major  ones  suffice  to  establish  the  gyroscope 
as  one  of  the  most  wonderful  of  devices.  The  results 
of  its  operation  seem  weird  to  the  point  almost  of  in- 
credibility. Yet  the  principle  on  which  it  operates 
is  fully  exemplified  in  the  action  of  the  spinning  top 
with  which  every  child  plays.  Modified  tops,  ingen- 
iously suspended,  may  perform  not  only  all  the  feats 
just  outlined,  but  may  tangibly  demonstrate  the  fact 
of  the  earth's  rotation.  The  latter  feat  was  accom- 
plished more  than  half  a  century  ago  by  the  famous 

258 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

French  physicist  Foucault.  But  the  practical  ap- 
plications of  the  principle,  with  which  we  are  here 
chiefly  concerned,  are  triumphs  of  the  science  of  our 
own  day. 

HOW  THE  GYROSCOPE  WORKS 

What,  then,  is  the  gyroscopic  principle"  that  can 
work  such  wonders?  Fundamentally,  its  basis  is  this 
simple  fact:  A  spinning  top  or  heavy  body  of  any  kind 
so  placed  that  it  can  rotate  on  an  axis  tends  always 
in  virtue  of  the  momentum  due  to  its  rotation,  to 
maintain  its  axis  in  a  fixed  position.  The  rotating 
body  may  be  moved  in  a  direct  line  in  any  direction 
whatever  quite  as  freely  as  if  it  were  not  rotating, 
provided  no  attempt  is  made  to  change  the  direction 
of  its  axis.  But  against  any  change  in  the  direction 
of  the  axis  it  manifests  a  resistance  of  which  a  non- 
rotating  body  gives  no  evidence. 

The  principle  may  be  simply  illustrated  by  spin- 
ning a  bicycle  wheel  on  a  hub  held  in  the  hand.  It  will 
at  once  be  evident  that  it  may  be  moved  upward  or 
downward  or  latterly  or  diagonally,  quite  as  well  in 
motion  as  at  rest,  provided  the  axis  of  the  hub  is  kept 
always  parallel  with  its  original  position.  But  the 
moment  an  attempt  is  made  to  shift  this  axis,  as  by 
bending  the  wrist,  the  resistance  of  the  wheel  will 
be  felt.  The  same  principle  may  be  exemplified  in 
an  even  more  familiar  way  by  rolling  an  ordinary 
hoop,  which  owes  its  stability  solely  to  its  gyroscopic 
action,  and  which,  as  every  boy  knows,  resists  an 
attempt  to  overturn  it  in  a  very  curious  fashion. 

To  demonstrate  just  what  is  the  peculiar  feature 

259 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

of  this  resistance,  it  is  necessary  to  experiment  with 
a  gyroscope  suspended  in  gimbal  rings  in  such  a  way 
that  it  has  freedom  of  motion  in  three  directions. 
That  is  to  say,  the  axis  of  the  spinning  wheel  is  fixed 
in  a  ring  which  itself  can  revolve  at  right  angles  to  the 
axis,  this  ring  being  also  free  to  revolve  in  a  second 
outer  ring. 

If  now,  a  gyroscope  so  adjusted  is  set  rotating, 
with  its  axis  in  a  horizontal  plane,  and  an  attempt 
is  made  to  shift  the  axis  horizontally,  the  actual  shift 
will  not  be  horizontal,  but  directly  upward  or  down- 
ward. But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  an  attempt  is  made 
to  shift  the  axis  upward  or  downward,  the  actual  shift 
will  be  horizontal.  In  other  words,  the  resultant 
motion  when  any  force  is  applied  to  the  axis  of  the 
gyroscope  is  a  shift  at  right  angles  to  the  direction 
of  the  force;  at  right  angles  therefore  to  the  shift 
that  would  take  place  if  the  wheel  were  not  spinning. 

It  is  necessary  to  get  this  anomalous  but  invariable 
gyroscopic  action  fairly  in  mind  in  order  to  under- 
stand the  stabilizing  effects  that  are  produced  with 
this  wonderful  apparatus.  It  should  be  recalled  also 
that  the  anomalous  movement  of  the  gyroscope  is 
called  precession,  and  that  the  force  which  causes  it 
to  shift  its  position  is  called  a  precessional  force. 

With  these  simple  technicalities  in  mind  it  is  pos- 
sible to  understand  all  the  results  attained  with  the 
use  of  the  gyroscope. 

UTILIZING  THE   GYROSCOPIC    PRINCIPLE 

Foucault's  demonstration  that  the  earth  revolves 
was  made  with  the  gyroscope  as  long  ago  as  the  year 

260 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

1851.  His  experiments  consisted  of  spinning  a  gyro- 
scopic top,  swung  in  gimbal  rings  allowing  it  freedom 
of  motion  in  all  directions,  in  an  ordinary  room  for 
long  periods  continuously.  The  axis  of  the  gyro- 
scope retains  its  position  in  space,  but  inasmuch  as  the 
motion  of  the  earth  constantly  changes  the  position  in 
space  of  the  room  in  which  the  gyroscope  is  suspend- 
ed, the  axis  of  the  top  seems  slowly  and  regularly 
to  swing  about,  as  gauged  by  the  walls  of  the  room. 
The  degree  of  shift  and  time  required  to  describe  a 
certain  arc  accord  perfectly  with  what  would  be  cal- 
culated on  the  supposition  that  the  gyroscope  itself  is 
stationary  and  the  earth  in  rotational  motion.  Of 
course  no  one  had  doubted  that  the  earth  really  does 
rotate,  but  Foucault's  demonstration  was  none  the 
less  interesting  and  spectacular. 

While  Foucault's  experiments  with  the  gyroscope 
were  widely  heralded  and  aroused  great  interest  in 
the  scientific  world,  they  did  not  lead  immediately; 
to  any  practical  applications  of  the  gyroscope.  The 
first  successful  attem'pt  to  utilize  the  principle  of 
gyroscopic  action  in  a  practical  way  was  made  many; 
years  later  by  Lieutenant  Commander  Obry,  an  Aus- 
trian naval  officer  -who  used  the  gyroscope  as  a  means 
of  directing  a  torpedo.  It  is  said  that  prior  to  the  use 
of  this  device  the  "torpedo  was  little  more  than  a 
possibility  in  warfare,  but  since  that  time  the  gyro- 
gear  has  been  very  highly  developed  and  has  been  the 
most  potent  factor  in  making  the  torpedo  an  efficient 
instrument  of  war." 

Subsequently  attempts  were  made  by  a  number 
of  experimenters  to  utilize  the  gyroscope  as  a  stabil- 

261 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

izer  for  ships  to  prevent  their  rolling  at  sea.  Prom- 
inent workers  in  this  field  were  Sir  Philip  Watt,  Pro- 
fessor Biles,  and  the  elder  Freud  in  England  and  in 
Germany  Herr  Frahm  and  Dr.  Schlick.  Mr.  Louis 
Brennan,  in  England,  developed  in  1907  a  monorail 
car,  balanced  by  a  gyroscope,  which  excited  great  in- 
terest when  exhibited  before  the  Royal  Society.  After 
this  numberless  workers  took  up  the  problem,  with 
reference  to  one  or  another  of  its  aspects ;  but  no  one 
else,  perhaps,  has  attained  so  large  a  measure  of  suc- 
cess as  the  American,  Mr.  Elmer  A.  Sperry,  who  has 
had  the  assistance  in  much  of  his  experimental  work 
of  the  young  engineer,  Mr.  H.  C.  Ford,  and  of  Mr. 
Carl  Norden.  It  is  the  Sperry  gyroscope  in  its  vari- 
ous applications  that  I  wish  chiefly  to  describe  in  the 
ensuing  pages. 

THE  GYROSCOPE  COMPASS 

When  Foucault  made  his  classical  experiments  he 
stated  that  a  very  pretty  demonstration  might  be 
made  by  pointing  the  axis  of  the  gyroscope  at  a  star 
and  noting  that  the  axis  continues  to  point  toward 
the  same  star.  "If  we  select  a  suitable  star,"  he  says, 
"or  if  we  aim  at  one  of  the  points  of  the  heavens  which 
appear  to  be  moving  most  quickly,  the  axis  of  rota- 
tion when  carefully  examined  will  be  found  to  share 
the  same  apparent  displacement  and  will  give  em- 
phatic evidence  of  the  earth's  movement."  But  he 
adds:  "Of  course,  one  should  not  point  the  axis  in 
the  direction  of  the  polar  star,  because  this  star,  not 
having  any  apparent  movement,  the  instrument  would 
act  similarly  and  not  indicate  the  earth's  motion." 

262 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

Commenting  on  this,  Mr.  Sperry  says :  "What 
better  compass  could  one  wish  than  that  suggested 
in  the  last  clause  of  the  above  quotation  from  the 
original  writings  of  Foucault?"  And  a  moment's 
reflection  shows  the  force  of  this  suggestion.  The 
axis  of  a  gyroscope  pointed  at  the  pole  star,  that  is  to 
say  due  north,  will  obviously  constitute  a  compass  of 
a  novel  and  important  kind. 

Such  an  apparatus,  however,  without  further  modi- 
fication, would  by  no  means  serve  as  a  practical  ship's 
compass;  for  in  the  first  place  it  would  require  to  be 
sighted  or  aimed  before  it  would  be  of  any  service, 
and  secondly,  it  would  have  no  power  to  readjust  it- 
self should  it  by  any  chance  be  thrust  out  of  position. 
A  practical  compass  must  obviously  be  one  that  can 
find  the  north  for  itself  and  return  to  position  if  de- 
flected. In  order  that  the  gyroscope  shall  meet  this 
test,  it  is  necessary  to  restrict  its  freedom  of  action. 
Suppose,  for  example,  that  the  rotating  wheel  were 
suspended  in  such  a  way  that  its  secondary  axis  must 
maintain  a  horizontal  position,  though  free  to  oscil- 
late and  point  in  any  direction  in  the  horizontal  plane. 
It  appears,  rather  paradoxically,  that  such  restriction 
is  equivalent  to  putting  the  gyroscope  in  harness  and 
making  it  serviceable. 

How  this  comes  about  will  be  understood  if  we  re- 
flect that  any  object  here  at  the  earth's  surface  that 
maintains  a  horizontal  position  in  any  direction  other 
than  that  of  the  meridian  is  in*  reality  constantly 
changing  its  position  in  absolute  space.  Lay  a  pen- 
cil on  the  table  before  you,  placing  it  in  the  east  and 
west  line.  Obviously  the  position  of  that  pencil  in 

263 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

absolute  space  shifts  moment  by  moment.  Six  hours 
from  now  it  will  be  at  right  angles  to  its  present  po- 
sition, as  it  will  have  gone  a  quarter  way  round  our 
globular  earth  in  the  meantime.  But  suppose,  now, 
that  the  pencil  represents  the  axis  of  a  heavy  gyro- 
scope that  is  free  to  oscillate  but  is  held  in  horizontal 
plane  by  force  of  gravity.  Recall,  then,  what  happens 
when  you  attempt  to  tip  the  axis  of  a  gyroscope  as  the 
movement  of  the  earth  will  tip  this  one.  The  axis 
does  not  move  in  the  direction  in  which  you  attempt 
to  tip  it,  but  at  right  angles  to  that  direction.  And 
that  means,  in  this  case,  that  the  axis  must  swing 
about  in  the  direction  of  the  north  and  south  line, — 
just  as  if  you  turn  the  pencil  about  on  the  table  with- 
out lifting  it. 

Suppose  you  turn  your  pencil  until  it  lies  straight 
north  and  south  on  the  table,  and  then  as  before  con- 
sider its  relation  to  the  rotating  earth.  A  moment's 
reflection  will  show  that  the  pencil  now  occupies  the 
one  only  position  in  which  it  will  remain  parallel  to 
its  present  position  hour  after  hour.  Six  hours  from 
now,  or  twelve  or  twenty-four  hours  from  now,  it  is 
still  aimed  in  the  same  direction.  And  of  course  the 
same  thing  holds  true  for  the  axis  of  our  gyroscope. 
When  it  finally  reaches  the  north  and  south  position, 
it  ceases  to  feel  the  disturbing  influence  of  the  earth's 
motion.  Now  it  is  in  stable  equilibrium ;  it  will  hold 
its  position  rigidly  unless  some  new  force  disturbs 
it.  And  if  forcibly  deflected,  it  will  instantly  come 
again  under  the  torsional  (precessional)  strain  of  the 
earth's  motion,  and  hence  will  be  promptly  swung 
back  into  meridianal  position. 

264 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

All  this  is  obviously  only  a  roundabout  way  of  say- 
ing that  the  axis  of  the  gyroscope  in  question  is  a 
compass  pointing  to  the  true  north, — forced  into  this 
position  by  the  power  of  the  rotating  world  itself  in 
conjuction  with  its  own  rotation,  and  held  there  in- 
flexibly so  long  as  world  and  gyroscope  both  continue 
to  rotate. 

Such  is  the  theory  of  the  gyro-compass.  In  the 
practical  application  of  the  theory  there  is  oppor- 
tunity for  the  display  of  great  inventive  ingenuity. 
German  inventors  have  sought  to  solve  the  problem 
by  floating  the  gyroscope  on  mercury.  Messrs.  An- 
schutz-Kaempfe  and  Martienssen  have  attained  a 
measure  of  success  in  this  way.  But  Mr.  Sperry 
thinks  that  the  same  end  may  be  attained  to  far  bet- 
ter advantage  by  giving  the  entire  gyroscopic  ap- 
paratus the  form  of  a  pendulum,  its  secondary  axis 
thus  being  held  in  horizontal  position  by  the  force 
of  gravity. 

After  long  series  of  experiments,  Mr.  Sperry  has 
perfected  a  gyro-compass  that  is  a  highly  efficient  and 
practical  instrument;  a  better  instrument,  indeed,  in 
many  ways  than  any  magnetic  compass  ever  de- 
vised. In  proof  of  practicality,  it  suffices  to  note  that 
the  Sperry  gyro-compass  has  recently  been  installed 
on  a  number  of  our  battleships,  including  the  Florida, 
the  North  Dakota,  the  Utah,  the  Delaware,  the  Michi- 
gan, the  New  Hampshire,  the  Kansas,  the  Rhode  Is- 
land, the  Arkansas,  and  the  Wyoming.  A  Brazilian 
battleship  similarly  equipped  steamed  out  of  New 
York  harbor  the  other  day;  and  the  largest  ship  in 
commission,  the  Imperator,  carries  a  gyro-compass  of 

18  265 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

German  make.  It  is  pretty  obvious  that  the  non- 
magnetic compass  is  the  compass  of  the  immediate 
future. 

The  actual  Sperry  gyro-compass,  as  adjusted  deep 
in  the  hull  of  a  battleship,  is  an  electrically  rotated 
steel  wheel  about  twelve  inches  in  diameter.  The 
mechanism  of  the  master  compass  is  of  course  con- 
cealed within  casings,  and  a  compass  card  of  familiar 
appearance  is  adjusted  at  its  face.  There  is  a  pneu- 
matic damping  system  to  minimize  the  disturbances 
due  to  motion  of  the  ship.  There  are  also  automatic 
correction  dials,  which  must  be  adjusted  for  the  lati- 
tude and  for  the  speed  in  knots  from  time  to  time. 
But  these  may  be  adjusted  as  easily  as  you  set  a 
watch,  and  aside  from  this  the  mechanism  requires  no 
alteration.  The  force  with  which  the  gyro-compass 
resists  deflection  from  the  true  north  is  almost  three 
hundred  times  the  directive  force  of  the  most  power- 
ful magnetic  compass. 

Any  number  of  small  "repeating"  compasses,  con- 
nected by  wire  with  the  master  compass,  may  be  dis- 
tributed about  the  ship.  These  are  not  properly 
speaking  compasses  in  themselves;  but  their  dials — 
which  may  be  placed  in  any  convenient  position,  hor- 
izontal or  vertical  or  slanting — duplicate  accurately 
the  record  of  the  gyro-compass. 

STEADYING  SHIPS  AT  SEA 

This  use  of  the  gyroscope  to  take  the  place  of  the 
magnetic  needle  is  one  of  the  newest  developments 
of  applied  science.  But  there  are  other  applications 
of  the  gyroscopic  principle  that  are  less  novel.  More 

266 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

than  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  in  the  year  1744,  a 
British  inventor  named  Serson  conceived  the  idea 
that  a  spinning  top  with  a  polished  upper  surface 
might  be  used  to  supply  an  artificial  horizon  at  sea, 
in  order  that  observations  might  be  made  when  the 
actual  horizon  was  hidden  by  clouds  or  fog.  The 
British  admiralty  was  disposed  to  test  the  apparatus, 
but  the  inventor  was  lost  in  the  wreck  of  the  ship 
Victory.  The  idea,  however,  has  been  utilized  in 
recent  years,  and  with  the  modern  gyroscopic  ap- 
paratus it  is  possible  to  secure  an  artificial  horizon 
that  serves  the  navigator  an  admirable  purpose. 

A  much  more  important  possibility  of  utilizing  the 
stability  of  a  revolving  wheel  is  concerned  with  the  at- 
tempt to  prevent  ships  at  sea  from  rolling.  The  first 
important  effort  to  make  sea  voyaging  more  com- 
fortable with  the  aid  of  the  gyroscope  was  made  by 
Sir  Henry  Bessemer,  the  famous  English  innovator 
in  the  steel  industry.  Bessemer,  however,  did  not 
attempt  to  apply  the  principle  to  the  stabilizing  of  an 
entire  ship,  but  only  to  a  single  room  with  a  movable 
floor  constructed  on  a  Channel  steamer.  It  is  said 
that  he  spent  a  very  large  sum  in  the  attempt  to  put 
the  idea  into  practice,  but  the  experiment  failed  ut- 
terly. 

Bssemer's  futile  experiments  were  carried  out 
about  the  year  1880.  No  one  seems  to  have  taken 
up  the  task  that  he  abandoned  for  a  good  many 
years,  and  then  the  experimenters  who  thought  that 
the  gyroscope  might  be  of  aid  in  making  ocean  travel 
less  disagreeable,  turned  their  attention  to  the  more 
comprehensive  problem  of  stabilizing  the  entire  ship. 

267 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

The  first  really  successful  effort  in  this  direction  was 
made  by  the  German  engineer  Dr.  Otto  Shlick,  who 
in  1904  was  able  to  make  a  successful  demonstration 
by  installing  a  gyroscope  apparatus  on  a  torpedo-boat 
called  the  Sea-bar,  discarded  from  the  German  Navy. 

Dr.  Schlick's  gyroscope  consisted  of  a  powerful 
fly-wheel  installed  in  the  hull  of  the  ship  on  a  vertical 
axis,  and  so  adjusted  that  the  entire  mechanism  is 
free  to  oscillate  lengthwise  of  the  ship.  In  action, 
stimulated  by  the  precessional  motion  engendered 
by  the  rolling  ship,  its  mighty  mass,  pivoted  on  lat- 
eral trunnions,  lunges  forward  and  backward  with 
terrific  force,  as  if  it  would  tear  loose  from  its  bear- 
ings and  dash  the  entire  ship  into  pieces.  It  causes 
the  ship  to  pitch  a  trifle  fore  and  aft  as  it  does  so;  but 
meantime  it  steadies  the  lateral  motion.  Some  critics 
think,  however,  than  its  use  may  not  be  unattended 
with  danger  since  the  revolving  wheel  of  the  Schlick 
gyroscope,  to  be  effective,  must  bear  an  appreciable 
relation  to  the  mass  of  the  entire  ship.  Such  a  weight, 
revolving  at  terrific  speed  and  oscillating  like  a  tre- 
mendous pendulum,  obviously  represents  an  enor- 
mous store  of  energy.  Should  such  a  gyroscope  in  ac- 
tion break  loose  from  its  trunnions,  it  might  go 
through  the  ship  with  the  devastating  effect  of  a 
monster  cannon-ball. 

It  was  not  at  first  seen  how  the  obvious  disadvan- 
tages of  the  Schlick  gyroscope,  incident  to  its  enor- 
mous size,  could  be  overcome.  But  presently  Mr. 
Sperry  devised  an  ingenious  method  that  has  enabled 
him  to  utilize  the  gyroscope  as  a  stabilizer  of  ships 
without  necessitating  the  employment  of  revolving  or 

268 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

oscillating  masses  of  unmanageable  size.  The  princi- 
ple on  which  the  Sperry  ship-steadying  gyroscope 
works  is  that  of  anticipating  the  rolling  motion  of  the 
ship,  and,  so  to  say,  nipping  it  in  the  bud.  The 
Schlick  gyroscope  could  not  get  into  action  until  a 
precessional  stress  had  been  brought  to  bear  on  its 
axis  by  the  actual  rolling  of  the  ship.  But  Mr.  Sperry 
conceived  the  idea  of  giving  a  precessional  thrust  to 
the  axis  of  the  gyro  with  the  aid  of  a  steam  engine ; 
such  thrust  being  timed  by  the  action  of  a  very  small 
gyroscope  which  would  feel  the  slightest  departure 
from  the  level. 

The  large  active  gyro  is  arranged  with  a  horizontal 
axis  lying  athwart  the  ship.  The  so-called  preces- 
sional engine  is  so  arranged  that  when  it  operates  it 
gives  a  horizontal  thrust  to  the  end  of  the  gyro- 
scope's axis  lengthwise  of  the  ship.  Such  a  thrust 
obviously  causes  the  axis  of  the  gyroscope  to  attempt 
to  precess  in  a  vertical  direction,  thus  straining  at 
its  bearings — rigidly  bolted  to  the  ship's  steel  frame- 
work— in  such  a  way  as  to  resist  the  tendency  of  the 
ship  to  roll.  There  is  no  marked  oscillation  of  the 
mass  as  in  the  Schlick  gyroscope,  and  as  the  preces- 
sional engine  is  brought  into  action  almost  in  antici- 
pation of  the  motion  of  the  ship,  a  relatively  small 
expenditure  of  power  suffices  to  hold  the  ship  on  an 
even  keel. 

A  curious  additional  possibility  with  the  Sperry 
gyroscope  is  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  precessional 
engine,  the  apparatus  may  be  made  to  bring  such  a 
strain  on  the  ship  as  to  cause  it  to  roll  in  perfectly 
smooth  water.  This  was  demonstrated  on  the  U.  S. 

269 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

S.  Warden,  which  while  tied  up  at  the  docks,  was 
made  to  tip  in  such  a  way  as  to  strain  at  its  hawsers. 
Thus  it  will  be  possible  to  incline  the  deck  of  a  war- 
ship at  any  desired  angle  and  hold  it  there,  to  facili- 
tate firing  the  guns  at  long  range.  The  capacity  to 
make  the  ship  roll  with  gyroscopic  aid  will  be  of  use 
on  occasion  in  working  the  hull  loose  from  a  sand- 
bar; also,  in  case  of  ships  on  our  Great  Lakes,  to 
enable  the  vessel  to  break  through  the  heaviest  ice. 
A  very  slight  rolling  motion  will  prevent  ice  from 
forming  in  still  water  about  the  hull  of  the  ship. 
Thus  traffic  on  the  lakes  will  be  greatly  facilitated. 
Meantime  the  same  gyroscope  which  rocks  the  boat 
to  break  ice  or  to  prevent  its  formation  will  serve  the 
opposite  purpose  of  making  the  ship  steady  in  rough 
water,  to  the  greatly  added  comfort  of  passengers 
and  safety  of  cargo. 

Mr.  Sperry  tells  an  anecdote  in  connection  with 
the  experiments  preliminary  to  installing  a  plant  on 
the  Warden  which  is  worth  repeating.  "These  ex- 
periments were  being  made  with  models  to  simulate 
a  ship,  and  it  had  been  shown  that  the  principle  of  the 
active  type  of  gyro  would  enable  us  to  do  exactly 
what  we  had  claimed  we  could  do.  After  the  experi- 
ments were  over  an  old  bluejacket  who  had  been  help- 
ing us  asked  me  what  it  was  all  about,  and  I  told 
him  that  the  experiments  just  completed  proved  that 
we  could  prevent  ships  from  rolling.  He  turned  to 
me  and  in  a  very  disgusted  manner  told  me  that  if 
I  had  ever  been  to  sea  I  would  know  that  it  was  fool- 
ish to  try  to  do  anything  of  the  sort.  'Why/  he  said, 
'when  you  get  out  there  in  the  middle  of  the  ocean 

270 


TWO     VIEWS     OF     THE     SPERRY     SHIP-STABILIZING     GYROSCOPE 

The  upper  figure  shows  the  precession  engine  in  the  foreground 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

what  have  you  got  to  hang  on  to  to  hold  her?'  He 
was  right.  You  do  have  to  have  something  to  hang  on 
to.'  And  that  something  must  be  very  powerful. 
In  the  case  of  the  stabilizing  gyros  it  is  the  tremen- 
dously augmented  inertia  of  the  rotating  mass." 

It  is  apparent,  then,  that  even  with  the  Sperry 
gyroscope  it  is  necessary  to  use  a  revolving  wheel  of 
rather  formidable  size.  It  appears,  however,  that  con- 
trary to  what  might  be  expected  the  power  required 
for  control  of  the  precession  engine  is  trifling.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  rolling,  as  reflection  will 
show,  the  constant  tendency  of  the  ship  is  to  do  pre- 
cession-wise work  upon  the  gyro.  Moreover  the 
weight  of  the  gyroscope  itself  is  by  no  means  so  great 
as  might  be  anticipated,  inasmuch  as  the  rotation 
constitutes  "a  multiplier  of  tremendous  magnitude, 
even  though  the  actual  rotative  speed  is  relatively 
low." 

It  has  already  been  fairly  demonstrated  that  the 
Sperry  gyroscope  operates  effectively  when  its  mass 
is  but  a  fraction  of  the  mass  of  water  in  the  so-called 
'damping  tanks,  which  have  hitherto  been  the  most 
practical  means  of  minimizing  the  rolling  of  ships.  It 
is  further  estimated  that  the  power  required  to  oper- 
ate the  gyro  even  in  bad  weather  is  only  a  fraction  of 
the  power  wasted  in  propelling  a  ship  provided  with 
bilge  keels,  which,  as  is  well-known,  have  limited  in- 
fluence at  best  in  preventing  the  ship  from  rolling. 

STABILIZING  LAND  VEHICLES 

The  utility  of  stabilizing  ships  with  the  gyroscope 
seems  pretty  clearly  demonstrated.  As  to  land  ve- 

271 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

hides,  the  case  is  not  quite  so  clear.  Reference  has 
been  made  to  Mr.  Louis  Brennan's  gyro-car,  exhibited 
in  1907.  Two  years  later  Mr.  Brennan  constructed  a 
car  of  commercial  size,  capable  of  carrying  forty  or 
fifty  passengers,  and  clearly  demonstrated  the  feasi- 
bility of  balancing  this  vehicle  on  a  single  rail  with 
the  aid  of  his  gyroscopic  mechanism.  Whether  or 
not  the  idea  of  a  mono-rail  vehicle  will  prove  com- 
mercially valuable  remains  to  be  seen.  Mr.  Bren- 
nan's original  idea  was  that  such  vehicle  might  have 
utility  in  time  of  war,  being  operated  over  a  tempo- 
rary rail  which  could  obviously  be  laid  with  far  greater 
facility  than  an  ordinary  double  rail  track.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  a  much  more  extended  use  may  be  found  for 
the  mono-rail  vehicle. 

In  any  event  the  demonstration  of  the  principle  of 
balancing  a  land  vehicle  with  the  aid  of  a  gyroscope 
has  great  interest.  The  principles  involved  have  al- 
ready been  explained,  but  it  will  be  obvious  that  a 
vast  deal  of  ingenuity  was  required  to  devise  a  mech- 
anism through  which  the  principle  would  be  sucess- 
fully  applied  to  the  feat  of  balancing  a  car  resting  on 
a  single  line  of  wheels.  Mr.  Brennan  found  the  solu- 
tion with  the  aid  of  a  gyroscope  with  the  axis  placed 
horizontally,  one  end  of  the  axis  being  extended  and 
adjusted  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  roll  along  the  sur- 
face of  upper  and  lower  flanges  alternately,  thus  ac- 
celerating the  precessional  movement  which  would 
be  inaugurated  by  the  tipping  of  the  car. 

The  effect,  briefly,  is  this:  The  car  tipping  tends 
to  displace  the  axis  of  the  gyroscope  downward,  but, 
owing  to  the  curious  principle  of  gyroscope  action  at 

272 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

right  angles,  in  reality  displaces  it  horizontally.  Such 
displacement  brings  it  in  contact  with  one  of  the 
flanges,  and  the  revolution  of  the  gyroscope  itself 
tends  to  make  the  axis  roll  along  this  flange.  But 
this  roll  virtually  constitutes  a  longitudinal  thrust 
on  the  axis  of  the  gyroscope;  and  such  longitudinal 
thrust  of  course  results  in  lifting  the  axis  vertically. 
This  lift  brings  another  part  of  the  axis  in  contact 
with  another  flange  attached  to  the  car  body,  and 
pressure  against  this  tends  to  lift  the  car  back  to  the 
level,  while  at  the  same  time  the  reaction  on  the  gyro- 
scope causes  it  to  precess  back  to  its  original  position. 
An  incessant  cycle  of  operations  of  which  this  is  the 
epitome  serves  to  maintain  the  car  in  equilibrium. 

A  single  gyroscope  would  suffice  for  this  if  the  car 
were  running  on  a  straight  track.  But  on  rounding 
a  curve  a  disturbing  force  would  be  brought  to  bear 
on  the  gyroscope,  due  to  the  changed  direction  of  the 
train,  which  would  result  in  tipping  the  car  abnor- 
mally. To  prevent  this,  a  second  gyroscope  is  in- 
stalled, which  will  aid  the  first  in  balancing  on  a 
straight-away  course,  and  counteract  the  abnormal 
tipping  at  the  curves;  such  counteraction  being  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  two  gyros  revolve  in  opposite 
directions. 

The  balancing  feats  actually  performed  by  Mr. 
Brennan  s  gyro-car  are  striking,  not  to  say  mystify- 
ing. If  you  push  against  the  side  of  the  car  with  your 
hand,  the  car  is  felt  actually  to  push  back  as  if  resent- 
ing the  affront.  If  the  wind  blows  against  the  car,  it 
veers  over  toward  the  wind.  If  the  track  on  which  it 
runs — consisting  in  the  case  of  the  model  car  of  an 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

ordinary  gas  pipe  or  of  a  cable  of  wire — is  curved, 
even  very  sharply,  the  car  follows  the  curve  without 
difficulty,  and,  in  defiance  of  ordinary  laws  of  motion, 
actually  leans  inward  as  a  bicycle  rider  leans  under 
the  same  circumstances  instead  of  careening  outward 
as  one  might  expect.  In  the  case  of  the  large  car, 
forty  passengers  were  crowded  at  one  side,  with  the 
result  of  causing  that  side  of  the  car  to  rise,  the  entire 
car  being  balanced  securely  in  this  leaning  position. 
All  these  anomalies  are  perfectly  explicable,  as  illus- 
trating the  principles  of  gyroscopic  action — namely, 
the  enormously  augmented  momentum  of  a  rotating 
body,  its  tendency  to  maintain  a  stable  position,  and 
its  invariable  shift  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  force 
that  disturbs  its  position.  In  a  sense,  the  stability 
of  Mr.  Brennan's  gyro-car  is  no  more  wonderful  than 
the  stability  of  a  spinning  top  or  a  rolling  hoop.  But 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  bear  this  in  mind  as  you 
watch  the  curious  vehicle,  poised  for  example  on  a 
single  strand  of  wire  stretched  across  a  gorge  and 
standing  there  perfectly  rigid  and  altogether  secure, 
or,  at  mandate  of  its  manipulator,  passing  forward 
at  low  speed  or  at  high  with  the  same  secure  equil- 
ibration. So  anomalous  does  the  gyro-car  appear 
when  thus  exhibited  that  its  feats  of  automatic  bal- 
ancing seem  to  bid  defiance  to  the  laws  of  gravitation 
and  to  suggest  the  working  of  miraculous  powers. 

STABILIZING   THE   AIR  SHIP 

When  the  power  of  the  gyroscope  in  stabilizing  the 
monorail  land  vehicle  and  the  ship  at  sea  had  been 
demonstrated,  it  was  natural  that  the  question  should 

274 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

arise  as  to  whether  the  same  principle  might  not  be 
utilized  in  giving  stability  to  the  air  ship.  Indeed, 
there  were  those  who  predicted,  before  the  Wright 
brothers  achieved  success,  that  no  heavier-than-air 
machine  would  ever  fly  unless  stabilized  by  gyro- 
scopic action. 

The  success  of  the  Wrights,  who  solved  the  prob- 
lem of  stabilizing  the  air  craft  with  the  aid  of  warping 
wings  in  connection  with  vertical  and  horizontal  rud- 
ders, made  the  use  of  the  gyroscope  seem  superfluous. 
But  practical  aviators  were  soon  alive  to  the  desir- 
ability of  some  automatic  stabilizer,  and  very  recent- 
ly the  question  of  utilizing  the  gyroscope  in  this  ca- 
pacity has  been  frequently  discussed. 

To  some  theorizers  it  seemed  plausible  that  a  rel- 
atively heavy  gyroscope  might  be  adjusted  to  the 
aeroplane  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  its  tipping  just 
as  the  Brennan  gyroscope  prevents  the  tipping  of  the 
gyro-car  and  as  the  Schlick  and  Sperry  gyroscopes 
prevent  the  rolling  of  the  ship.  But  others  thought 
that  such  a  use  of  the  gyroscope  would  be  fraught 
with  danger.  An  airship  is  subjected  to  sudden  and 
irregular  stresses  from  powerful  gusts  of  wind;  and  it 
is  hardly  supposable  that  a  gyroscope  powerful 
enough  to  defy  the  strongest  currents  could  be  util- 
ized. Yet  if  a  momentary  gust  did  overcome  the 
power  of  the  gyroscope  and  thrust  its  axis  aside,  the 
precessional  effect,  tremendously  augmented,  would 
bring  a  strain  on  the  ship  which  would  divert  it  in  an 
unexpected  direction  and  probably  result  in  wrecking 
the  craft.  Indeed,  it  seems  more  than  likely  that 
many  aeroplanes  have  been  wrecked  in  precisely  this 

275 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

way  through  the  gyroscopic  action  of  their  rotating 
motors  and  propellers. 

Very  recently,  however,  Mr.  Sperry  has  been  able 
to  utilize  the  gyroscope  as  a  stabilizer  of  the  aero- 
plane in  a  way  to  avoid  this  danger.  His  solution 
consists  in  using  two  small  gyroscopes  which  operate 
on  the  rudders  and  balancing  wings,  but  which  are 
far  too  feeble  to  have  any  marked  direct  effect  upon 
the  stabilization  of  the  craft.  One  gyroscope  acts 
on  the  horizontal  rudder,  the  other  on  the  aillerons 
which  take  the  place  of  warping  wings  in  the  Curtiss 
aeroplane  on  which  the  apparatus  was  first  tested. 
These  gyroscopes  may  be  instantly  detached  from 
their  connection  with  the  steering  gears  or  re-con- 
nected at  the  will  of  the  aviator  by  means  of  a  button 
attached  to  his  steering  wheel. 

The  two  gyroscopes  act  quite  independently,  one  of 
them  having  to  do  with  longitudinal  and  the  other 
with  lateral  stability.  When  in  operation  their  re- 
sponse to  the  slightest  tendency  of  the  machine  to 
oscillate  is  practically  instantaneous  and  their  auto- 
matic control  of  the  horizontal  rudder  and  of  the 
warping  devices  is  so  delicately  effective  that  the 
aeroplane  is  kept  flying  at  a  given  level  a.nd  almost 
without  a  tremor  even  in  a  choppy  wind  where  the 
most  skilful  aviator  would  find  it  very  difficult  to 
maintain  a  safe  balance,  and  impossible  to  keep  the 
apparatus  really  steady. 

mosts  skilful  aviator  woud  find  difficulty  in  keeping 
the  apparatus  steady. 

If  it  is  desired  to  ascend  or  descend,  it  is  only  nec- 
essary to  throw  the  longitudinal  stabilizer  out  of  con- 

276 


WORKING    WONDERS    WITH    A    TOP 

nection.  Moreover,  it  is  possible  to  adjust  this  stabil- 
izer in  such  a  way  that  it  will  be  automatically  con- 
nected and  begin  to  operate  on  the  horizontal  rudder 
in  the  event  of  the  machine  being  suddenly  tipped 
abnormally  by  an  air  current,  or  in  case  of  its  being 
headed  into  the  air  at  a  dangerously  steep  angle  by 
the  aviator.  It  should  be  explained  that  the  airman 
at  a  great  height  often  finds  it  difficult  to  determine 
just  how  fast  he  is  climbing,  or  whether  indeed  he  is 
climbing  at  all;  and  that  there  is  always  danger  that 
the  machine  may  be  headed  upward  at  such  an  angle 
as  to  lose  all  power  of  progression.  In  such  a  case 
the  entire  aeroplane  may  slide  backward  in  the  air 
when  the  aviator  imagines  himself  to  be  rising,  and 
there  is  obvious  danger  that  it  may  then  pass  alto- 
gether out  of  control  and  plunge  to  the  earth.  The 
gyroscope  stabilizer  is  believed  to  prevent  the  danger 
of  such  a  disaster,  as  it  will  automatically  correct  the 
mistake  of  an  aviator  who  deflects  the  horizontal  rud- 
der at  too  great  an  angle. 

The  observed  efficiency  of  the  mechanism  that  oper- 
ates the  wing-warping  devices  is  comprehensible  when 
we  reflect  that  the  gyroscope  instantly  responds  to  the 
slightest  attempt  to  deflect  its  axis,  whereas  the  hu- 
man operator — who  in  the  case  of  the  Curtiss  ma- 
chine manages  the  aillerons  with  the  aid  of  wires  at- 
tached to  straps  about  his  shoulders — has  a  compara- 
tively blunt  sense  of  equilibrium  and  hence  does  not 
recognize  or  respond  to  the  tipping  of  his  craft  until 
it  has  reached  a  considerable  angle.  In  an  actual 
flight,  with  a  skilled  aviator  at  the  wheel,  the  aircraft 
in  a  chopyy  wind  wabbled  disagreeably  despite  the 

277 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

best  efforts  of  the  operator  unaided  by  the  gyroscope, 
yet  became  instantly  steady  when  the  button  was 
pressed  that  put  the  gyroscopic  stabilizer  in  connec- 
tion with  the  balancing  wings. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  gyroscope  stabilizer  for 
the  aeroplane  has  a  field  of  operation  of  vast  impor- 
tance. Seemingly  the  apparatus  should  give  an  added 
increment  of  safety  to  the  flying  machine  under  all 
conditions.  It  will  presumably  enable  the  aviator  to 
rest  in  the  air  without  jeopardy;  and  the  relief  from 
the  incessant  strain  of  perpetual  balancing  should 
make  long  voyages  feasible  for  aviators  who  have 
hitherto  lacked  endurance  for  such  feats.  With  the 
aid  of  the  stabilizer  it  should  also  be  possible  for  a 
single  airman  to  take  photographs  or  make  maps  of 
the  countries  over  which  he  is  flying,  or  on  occasion 
to  operate  the  wireless  apparatus,  sending  or  receiv- 
ing messages,  or  to  manipulate  a  bomb-thrower  or  a 
machine-gun  in  case  of  a  warlike  expedition. 

In  a  word,  the  successful  utilization  of  the  gyro- 
scopic principle  in  its  application  to  the  flying  ma- 
chine seems  likely  to  prove  the  most  important  con- 
tribution that  has  been  made  to  the  art  of  aviation 
since  the  memorable  day  in  December,  1903,  when 
the  Wright  brothers  first  demonstrated  the  feasibil- 
ity of  human  flight. 


X 

THE    CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

IN  the  month  of  February,  1912,  there  tied  up  at  a 
London  dock  a  vessel  of  about  5,000  tons  burthen, 
which  to  any  casual  observer  would  have  seemed  a 
rather  ordinary  looking  steamship  were  it  not  for  one 
striking  peculiarity, — namely  the  absence  of  smoke- 
stacks. The  vessel  flew  the  Danish  flag  and  bore 
the  name  Selandia. 

The  absence  of  smokestacks  marked  the  vessel  as 
something  out  of  the  ordinary.  That  the  craft  is 
indeed  very  much  out  of  the  ordinary  was  evidenced 
in  a  visit  paid  her  by  a  notable  company  of  British  of- 
ficials, including  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty. 

The  extraordinary  interest  thus  manifested  in  the 
Danish  ship  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  vessel 
was  far  and  away  the  largest  craft  theretofore  com- 
pleted— in  fact  the  only  large  ship  then  in  commis- 
sion— the  propulsive  power  of  which  is  neither  wind 
nor  steam.  Ships  without  sails  are  common  enough ; 
but  a  steamless  steamship  is  obviously  something  new 
under  the  sun.  The  Selandia,  however,  is  such  a  ship. 
Unlike  every  other  large  vessel  that  is  not  equipped 
with  sails,  she  has  neither  coal  nor  furnace  nor  steam 
boilers  in  her  hold.  She  is  the  pioneer  example  of  a 
new  type  of  ship;  and  if  present  indications  are  to  be 

279 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

trusted,  her  construction  marks  a  new  era  in  mari- 
time annals.  It  is  within  the  possibilities  that  craft  of 
this  new  type  are  to  supersede  the  steam-propelled 
ship  in  the  near  future  much  as  the  steamship  has 
superseded  the  sailing  vessel. 

A  STEAMLESS   STEAMSHIP 

The  explanation  of  the  mystery  is  this:  The 
Selandia  is  provided  with  engines  of  a  new  type, 
the  motive  power  for  which  is  supplied  by  sprays  of 
oil  instead  of  by  steam.  The  oil  spray  is  not  burned 
in  a  furnace,  but  is  injected  into  the  cylinder  of  the 
engine  itself,  and,  igniting  there,  expands  explosively 
and  drives  the  piston  forward  exactly  as  steam  drives 
it  in  an  engine  of  the  familiar  type.  The  exhaust 
consists  of  a  practically  colorless  vapor  which  escapes 
through  a  tube  in  one  of  the  masts  that  carry  the 
wireless  equipment  of  the  ship.  The  exhaust  from 
all  the  engines  working  at  full  speed  is  said  to  pro- 
duce less  visible  vapor  than  often  emerges  from  the 
motor  of  an  automobile. 

If  we  contrast  this  with  the  volleys  of  smoke  that 
belch  from  the  funnels  of  an  ordinary  steamship,  we 
have  a  rough  measure  of  the  efficiency  of  the  new 
engine,  which  consumes  and  utilizes  its  fuel  instead 
of  sending  it  up  the  chimney. 

The  oil  engine  which  thus  threatens  the  supremacy 
of  the  steam  engine  is  the  invention  of  Dr.  Rudolf 
Diesel  of  Munich.  The  inventor  has  had  the  usual 
amount  of  difficulty  in  bringing  his  invention  to  the 
attention  of  the  commercial  world.  But  the  success 
he  has  now  achieved  justifies,  in  a  measure  at  least, 

280 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

the  glowing  predictions  in  which  he  indulged  in  a 
recent  lecture  before  the  Institute  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  in  London. 

The  lecture  was  given  at  a  time  when  the  coal 
strike  was  at  its  height;  when  two  and  a  half  million 
men  were  out  of  work  in  consequence;  when  British 
railways  were  running  on  half  schedule;  when  many 
ships  were  tied  up  at  their  docks  for  want  of  coal; 
and  when  the  entire  industrial  activity  of  England 
was  temporarily  in  check. 

Dr.  Diesel  declared  that  his  invention  would  make 
a  repetition  of  this  disaster  impossible.  His  engine 
would  permanently  break  the  monopoly  of  coal.  He 
had  solved  the  problem  of  using  liquid  fuel  for  power 
production  in  its  simplest  and  most  general  form. 
Any  of  the  natural  liquid  fuels  could  be  used, — and 
what  was  more,  used  simply  and  economically. 

He  declared  that  there  is  probably  as  much  liquid 
fuel  as  coal  on  the  globe.  New  petroleum  sources 
are  constantly  being  discovered.  The  world's  pro- 
duction of  crude  oil  increases  and  may  be  expected 
to  increase.  Even  at  present,  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
production  of  mineral  oil,  it  was  declared,  would 
supply  the  whole  naval  and  mercantile  fleet  of  the 
world  with  ample  power  were  they  equipped  with 
Diesel  engines. 

Of  course  inventors  are  proverbially  sanguine; 
but  in  the  present  case  the  predictions  of  Dr.  Diesel 
have  back  of  them  a  record  of  accomplishment  that 
insures  them  very  serious  consideration.  The 
Diesel  engine  has  passed  through  a  period  of  pro- 
bation during  which  it  has  been  used  successfully  in 
19  281 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

small  engines  of  many  types.  The  Selandia  was  the 
first  large  vessel  equipped  with  an  oil  motor  to  be  put 
in  commission,  but  numerous  other  vessels,  some  of 
them  even  larger,  are  building.  The  interest  of  the 
British  Admiralty  has  already  been  referred  to.  It 
is  said  that  the  German  Admiralty  is  building  a  cruis- 
er to  be  equipped  with  two  six-cylinder  engines  each 
of  6,000  horse  power.  A  sister  ship  to  the  Selandia 
was  put  in  commission  a  few  months  later,  and  the 
East  Asiatic  Company  is  reported  to  have  given 
orders  for  two  similar  vessels,  and  for  two  cargo  ves- 
sels, all  to  be  equipped  with  Diesel  engines. 

The  explanation  of  the  popularity  of  the  new  en- 
gine is  not  far  to  seek.  It  is  founded  on  efficiency 
and  cheapness  of  operation.  Tests  have  been  made 
on  large  Diesel  engines,  showing  the  consumption 
of  only  0.38  pounds  of  fuel  per  brake  horse-power- 
hour.  Marine  engines  actually  in  use  average  0.4  to 
0.44  pounds  of  fuel  per  brake  horse-power-hour, 
running  under  full  load. 

Contrast  these  figures  with  the  1.46  pounds  of 
coal  required  to  produce  the  same  result,  and  it  will 
be  clear  that  the  champions  of  the  new  engine  are 
not  mere  visionaries. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  Diesel  engine  would  drive 
a  ship  as  fast  and  as  far  with  100  tons  of  fuel  as  the 
best  steam  engine  would  with  350  tons  of  coal.  As 
the  liquid  fuel  may  be  stored  in  tanks  placed  in  the 
double  bottom  of  the  ship,  there  is  an  obvious  saving 
in  space  that  is  of  great  importance.  The  space 
formerly  occupied  by  boilers  and  coal  bunkers  will 
be  available  for  passengers  and  cargo. 

282 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

The  Diesel  engines  themselves  in  the  Selandia  oc- 
cupy about  as  much  space  as  the  engine  equipment 
alone  of  the  ordinary  steam  plant;  but  even  in  this 
regard  a  further  economy  of  space  will  be  possible. 
Meantime  the  engine  room  of  the  new  craft  is  not 
only  guiltless  of  dust  and  smoke,  but  is  cool  and  com- 
fortable. The  glare  of  flame-belching  furnaces  of  the 
ordinary  steamship,  along  with  the  torrid  heat  and 
the  picturesque  array  of  stokers  sweltering  and  be- 
grimmed — are  strikingly  conspicous  by  their  absence. 

How  far  the  Diesel  engine  has  passed  beyond  the 
experimental  stage  will  be  further  evidenced  when 
it  is  noted  that  the  Selandia,  a  vessel  of  370  feet  length 
and  58  feet  beam,  is  not  merely  a  cargo  boat,  but  has 
accommodation  for  about  a  score  of  passengers  who 
are  comfortably  quartered  in  a  deckhouse  forward  of 
the  engines  in  large  cabins  having  bathrooms  en  suite. 
She  belongs  to  the  East  Asiatic  Company  and  on 
leaving  London  started  on  her  maiden  voyage  to  the 
East.  The  engines  of  the  Selandia  are  in  two  sets, 
each  having  eight  cylinders  of  20.8  inches  by  28.7 
inches  giving  together  2500  indicated  horse  power 
at  140  revolutions  per  minute.  The  general  ap- 
pearance of  the  engine  is  that  of  ordinary  recipro- 
cating steam  engines. 

The  operation  of  the  engine  may  be  briefly  de- 
scribed thus :  The  upward  stroke  of  the  piston  sucks 
air  into  the  cylinder.  The  return  stroke  compresses 
the  air  to  about  300  atmospheres,  and  hence  heats  it 
to  a  high  degree  of  temperature.  A  spray  of  oil  is 
then  injected  into  the  compressed  and  superheated 
air.  The  heat  of  the  compressed  air  ignites  the  oil 

283 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

spray  spontaneously,  so  that  its  combustion  is  ef- 
fected without  the  use  of  any  igniter  such  as  is  used 
with  gasoline  engines.  This  obviously  simplifies  the 
action  of  the  engine;  and  the  method  of  operation 
permits  the  use  of  any  crude  oil. 

It  will  be  obvious  that  the  Diesel  engine  is  a  modi- 
fication of  other  types  of  oil  engines,  and  not  in  itself 
an  absolutely  new  creation.  It  will  be  clear,  also,  that 
its  operation  is  the  four-cycle  stroke  familiar  as  the 
Otto  cycle.  Like  the  gasoline  engine,  it  can  be  so 
constructed  as  to  operate  on  a  two-cycle  principle. 

In  these  respects  the  Diesel  engine  affords  no  nov- 
elties. Its  unique  feature  is  the  utilization  of  com- 
pressed air,  which  does  away  with  special  apparatus 
for  igniting  the  oil.  The  fact  that  crude  oil  of  any 
type  may  be  employed  gives  it  vast  commercial  im- 
portance. 

AN   ALL-IMPORTANT   MECHANISM 

The  internal  combustion  engine,  of  which  the 
Diesel  engine  is  the  newest  type,  was  in  some  respects 
the  most  important  mechanism  developed  in  the 
closing  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Three 
revolutionary  craft — the  submarine,  the  dirigible 
balloon,  and  the  aeroplane — owe  their  existence  to 
this  engine.  With  its  aid  the  depths  of  the  sea  and 
the  heights  of  the  air  are  being  made  accessible. 

When  we  reflect,  further,  that  the  conditions  of 
land  traffic  are  being  revolutionized,  thanks  to  the 
automobile,  through  the  same  agency,  and  that  the 
motor-boat  is  becoming  an  institution  of  importance, 
— even  should  the  Diesel  engine  fail  to  drive  the 

284 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

steamship  off  the  sea, — it  will  be  apparent  that  no 
review  of  recent  progress  would  have  even  a 
semblance  of  completeness  that  did  not  pay  full 
tribute  to  the  gas  or  oil  engine. 

The  definitive  improvements  that  gave  the  gas 
engine  commercial  value  were  made  by  a  German,  Dr. 
N.  A.  Otto,  as  long  ago  as  1876,  but  the  development 
of  a  compact,  high-speed  type  of  oil  engine,  largely 
through  the  efforts  of  Herr  G.  Daimler,  is  much 
more  recent. 

As  finally  perfected,  the  internal  combustion  motor 
is  responsible  in  our  generation  for  an  industrial  rev- 
olution comparable  only  to  that  effected  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  by  its  prototype 
the  steam  engine. 

We  have  just  been  introduced  to  the  newest  type 
of  oil  engine,  the  Diesel  motor.  Our  further  con- 
cern is  not  so  much  with  the  gas  engine  itself  as  with 
the  space-conquering  mechanisms  that  it  has  brought 
into  being.  The  most  obvious  and  universal  of  these, 
and  the  one  that  up  to  the  present  is  the  most  signifi- 
cant as  an  economic  factor,  is  the  automobile.  It 
would  be  quite  superfluous  to  describe  the  mechanism 
or  the  method  of  operation  of  this  vehicle,  but  a  few 
statistics  as  to  its  recent  development  may  not  be  out 
of  place. 

AUTOMOBILE   AND   SUBMARINE 

It  was  estimated  that  there  were  677,999  auto- 
mobiles in  use  in  the  United  States  in  the  summer  of 
1912.  It  is  further  estimated  that  more  than  200,000 
of  these  machines  were  manufactured  here  in  the 

285 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

year  1911,  and  not  far  from  a  quarter  of  a  million  in 
1912.  The  officially  estimated  value  of  the  materials 
used  in  the  automobile  industry  in  1909  is  just  under  a 
quarter  of  a  billion  dollars,  and  the  value  added  by 
manufacture  ($117,116,000)  brings  the  total  value 
to  $336,758,000, — that  is  to  say,  about  18  dollars  for 
each  and  every  family  in  the  United  States. 

These  figures  are  impressive.  They  become  doubly 
so  when  we  reflect  that  this  colossal  industry  has 
been  developed  in  the  past  fifteen  years.  In  the 
decade  1899-1909,  according  to  the  Census  Report, 
the  automobile  industry  showed  an  increase  of  5,148.6 
per  cent,  in  value  of  product,  and  3,278.9  per  cent,  in 
number  of  wage  earners.  Meantime  there  are  only 
thirteen  other  industries  that  show  an  increased 
output  of  more  than  one  hundred  per  cent.  Stated 
otherwise,  only  fourteen  industries  all  told  doubled 
their  output  in  the  decade,  while  the  output  of  motor 
cars  increased  fifty  fold.  The  merest  tyro  can  gain  an 
inkling  of  what  that  must  mean  in  the  way  of  econ- 
omic readjustment;  but  the  most  expert  student  of 
the  subject  could  not  guage  its  full  meanings. 

In  the  face  of  this  sudden  development  of  popu- 
larity of  the  self-propelled  vehicle,  it  is  interesting  to 
recall  that  the  prototype  of  the  automobile  was  in- 
vented more  than  a  century  ago,  and  that  steam-pro- 
pelled omnibuses  were  used  commercially  in  England 
as  early  as  1830.  Public  prejudice,  instigated  perhaps 
by  the  owners  of  horses,  led  to  the  enactment  of  laws 
that  virtually  ruled  the  automobile  off  the  roads  of 
England  before  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  the  vehicle  did  not  gain  a  footing  elsewhere  un- 

286 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

til  the  invention  of  rubber  tires  and  the  perfection 
of  the  gasoline  engine  had  made  possible  the  type  of 
motor  car  that  is  making  such  universal  appeal  in 
our  own  day. 

The  case  of  the  submarine  boat  is  historically  not 
dissimilar.  Invented  in  Revolutionary  days,  it  met 
with  so  cold  a  reception  that  almost  a  century  elapsed 
before  it  made  another  conspicious  bid  for  favor. 
Then,  however,  toward  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  its  cause  was  espoused  with  fervor,  in  partic- 
ular by  the  American  inventor,  Mr.  John  P.  Holland, 
whose  efforts  are  largely  responsible  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  submerged  craft  as  a  practical  war- 
machine.  Another  American,  Mr.  Simon  Lake,  has 
perfected  submarine  craft  adapted  not  only  for 
warlike  uses,  but  also  for  the  peaceful  exploration  of 
shallow  water,  salvage  operations,  and  the  like.  Mr. 
Lake's  submersibles  are  of  "even-keel"  type. 

As  recently  as  the  time  of  the  Spanish-American 
War,  the  authorities  still  looked  askance  at  the  anom- 
alous vessel.  But  to-day  submarines  are  as  much 
a  part  of  the  equipment  of  a  modern  navy  as  are 
battleships.  Submarines  have  been  lowered  to  a 
depth  of  more  than  two  hundred  feet,  where  the  pres- 
sure sustained  was  fifteen  thousand  tons.  They  have 
been  navigated  for  forty  consecutive  hours  without 
coming  to  the  surface.  Equipped  with  torpedoes 
they  are  instruments  of  naval  war  that  not  even 
the  dreadnought  can  ignore ;  and  the  newest  types  are 
equipped  with  small  cannon  to  operate  at  the  surface, 
though  their  role  in  this  position  must  obviously  be 
subordinate. 

287 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

THE    DIRIGIBLE    BALLOON 

In  the  marine  warfare  of  the  future,  the  chief  op- 
ponent of  the  submarine  boat  will  be  the  dirigible 
balloon  and  the  aeroplane,  for  these  craft,  from  their 
coign  of  vantage,  can  detect  the  location  of  the  sub- 
marine at  its  greatest  depth. 

The  mere  mention  of  these  air-craft,  as  matter- 
of-fact  antagonists  of  the  submarine,  suggests  the 
marvelous  change  that  has  come  about  in  the  brief 
period  since  M.  Santos  Dumont  astonished  the  world 
by  driving  a  small  balloon  round  the  Eiffel  Tower, 
on  the  19th  of  October,  1901.  It  is  matter  of  history 
that  this  was  the  feat  that  first  convinced  the  sceptics 
of  the  feasibility  of  directing  the  flight  of  a  balloon. 
A  less  convincing  exhibition  had  been  made  a  few 
months  earlier  at  Lake  Constance  by  the  German 
military  officer,  Count  von  Zeppelin.  But  the 
voyage  of  Santos  Dumont  began  and  ended  at  the 
same  place;  whereas  Count  Zeppelin's  balloon  came 
to  grief  a  little  over  three  miles  from  its  starting  point. 

The  circuit  of  the  Eiffel  Tower  demonstrated  the 
possibility  of  directing  the  course  of  a  balloon  either 
across  the  wind  or  against  it.  But  most  people  were 
skeptical  as  to  any  practical  developments  of  so  ex- 
ceedingly clumsy  an  affair  as  a  balloon;  and  only  the 
more  visionary  would  have  predicted  that  in  the 
course  of  a  decade  there  would  be  scores  of  dirigible 
balloons  in  the  air,  some  of  them  offering  passenger 
service,  and  that  every  up-to-date  nation  would  have 
its  flotilla  of  airships  of  war. 

The  development  of  the  dirigible  balloon  has  been 

£88 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

very  largely  due  to  Count  von  Zeppelin,  whose  ener- 
gies have  led  to  the  construction  of  one  airship  after 
another,  and  who  is  utterly  undeterred  by  the  repeat- 
ed catastrophies  that  have  overtaken  his  successive 
crafts.  The  flight  of  the  Zeppelin  III  from  Friecrrich- 
hafen  on  Lake  Constance  to  Berlin  and  return  in  Au- 
gust and  September,  1909,  afforded  a  demonstration 
of  the  possibilities  of  aerial  navigation  that  could  not 
be  ignored.  The  ship  was  destroyed  a  little  later,  to  be 
sure;  so  were  sundry  of  its  successors,  including  the 
Deutschland  I  and  Deutschland  II.  But  disaster 
came  while  the  ships  were  at  anchor  or  near  the 
earth;  when  in  -full  flight  the  "Zeppelins"  proved 
themselves  craft  of  great  stability  and  dependa- 
bleness. 

Equal  praise  must  be  given  the  balloons  of  a  dif- 
ferent type  which  have  been  developed  by  another 
German,  Major  von  Parseval,  and  which  bear  his 
name.  One  of  these  has  made  regular  trips  out  of 
Berlin  and  has  a  record  of  4,000  miles  without  a  single 
accident  to  its  motors.  The  airship  of  Mr.  Joseph 
Briicker,  designed  to  cross  the  ocean,  starting  from 
the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  is  of  the  Parseval  type. 

The  Zeppelin  and  Parseval  balloons  may  be  consid- 
ered the  leading  representatives  of  the  two  chief  types 
of  dirigibles.  The  essential  difference  is  that  the  Zep- 
pelin type  of  balloon  has  a  rigid  or  semi-rigid  frame- 
work of  aluminum  over  which  the  air-tight  casing  of 
the  balloon  proper  is  stretched;  whereas  the  Parseval 
type  is  without  such  a  framework.  In  each  case  the 
balloon  proper  is  composed  of  a  series  of  disconnected 
gas-bag  compartments.  Both  types  of  balloons  are 

289 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

driven  by  propellers  not  unlike  those  of  a  steamship 
(those  of  the  Parseval,  however,  having-  canvas 
vanes),  and  depend  for  their  dirigibility  upon  hori- 
zontal and  vertical  rudders,  the  former  of  which  are 
not  unlike  the  wings  of  an  aeroplane. 

The  Parseval  airship  is  supplied  with  an  ingenious 
internal  mechanism,  which  serves  the  double  purpose 
of  aiding  in  steering  the  ship  and  of  compensating  the 
loss  of  gas,  which  is  always  a  serious  item  in  a  long 
voyage.  This  apparatus  consists  of  two  airbags  or 
ballonets,  within  the  main  body  of  the  balloon, 
capable  of  being  independently  filled  with  air  or  ex- 
hausted. If  the  forward  ballonet  is  filled  with  air 
and  the  rear  one  deflated,  the  prow  of  the  balloon  is 
thereby  made  heavier  and  tends  to  head  downward; 
and  of  course  the  conditions  are  reversed  if  the  front 
ballonet  is  deflated  and  the  rear  one  filled  with  air.  If 
so  much  hydrogen  is  lost  from  the  balloon  that  there 
is  danger  of  collapse,  both  ballonets  may  be  inflated 
and  the  loss  thus  compensated. 

When  it  is  recalled  that  air  is  about  fifteen  times 
heavier  than  hydrogen,  it  will  be  obvious  that  the  air 
pumped  into  the  ballonets  serves  as  ballast.  The 
use  of  air  for  this  purpose  seems  to  mark  an  im- 
portant step  in  the  art  of  aeronautics.  The  recog- 
nized form  of  ballast  in  the  early  day  of  ballooning 
was  the  sand  bag.  This  serves  a  useful  purpose  in 
lightening  the  balloon,  but  the  sand  once  thrown  out 
obviously  cannot  be  replaced.  What  is  needed  is  a 
form  of  ballast  that  can  be  taken  on  or  thrown  out  at 
will.  In  the  day  time  the  sun  heats  the  gas  bag  and 
the  balloon  expands  and  tends  to  rise.  At  night  the 

290 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

gas  cools  and  the  balloon  settles.  It  was  to  com- 
pensate this  erratic  tendency  of  the  balloon  that  Mr. 
Wellman  invented  his  much  talked  of  equilibrator, 
consisting  of  gasoline  tanks  and  blocks  of  wood  ar- 
ranged to  trail  in  the  water,  and  thus  to  add  weight 
to  the  balloon  when  it  tended  to  rise.  The  equilibra- 
tor proved  a  dangerous  accessory,  however,  when  it 
encountered  heavy  seas. 

Mr.  Vaniman,  the  chief  engineer  of  Mr.  Wellman's 
illfated  trip,  planned  a  new  type  of  equilibrator  which 
should  dip  up  water  when  weight  was  needed  and 
empty  it  when  not  needed.  But  such  contrivances 
are  clumsy  at  best,  and  it  seems  likely  that  the  solu- 
tion of  the  ballast  problem  must  be  looked  for  in  quite 
another  direction. 

The  air-chambers  devised  by  Major  Parseval  (and 
which  were  adopted  as  accessories  in  both  the  Well- 
man and  the  Vaniman  airships)  afford  at  least  a 
partial  solution  of  the  problem.  Mr.  Briicker  planned 
to  cool  his  airship  in  the  daytime  by  spraying  it. 
Other  attempts  to  maintain  the  hydrogen  at  even  tem- 
perature have  utilized  the  plan  of  having  a  double- 
coated  balloon  with  an  air-chamber  surrounding  the 
gas-bag.  Just  before  his  death  Vaniman  attempted  to 
solve  the  problem  from  the  other  point  of  view,  by 
making  the  balloon-envelop  strong  enough  to  with- 
stand the  pressure  of  hydrogen  expanding  under  in- 
fluence of  the  sun's  rays.  Apparently  any  material 
stout  enough  to  resist  this  pressure  would  prove  much 
too  unwieldy  and  heavy.  But  Vaniman's  balloon  ex- 
ploded in  its  trial  trip  off  the  Jersey  coast  in  1912, 
the  inventor  himself  and  his  companions  falling  to 

291 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

their  death.  It  is  possible  that  the  final  solution  of  the 
gas-expansion  problem  may  be  found  in  a  system  of 
refrigeration  pipes,  similar  to  those  used  in  cold- 
storage  plants,  or  conversely  in  a  system  of  ordinary 
hot-air  pipes  operated  from  the  engine-room. 

The  most  difficult  problem  that  has  confronted  the 
makers  of  airships  since  the  elementry  principles  of 
dirigibility  were  solved,  has  had  to  do  not  with  the 
actual  flight  of  the  ship  but  with  the  safe  landing  of 
the  craft.  The  cigar-shaped  aircraft,  with  its  thin 
shell  of  silk  and  rubber  is  obviously  a  trail  structure. 
When  not  in  use  it  must  be  housed  in  a  tunnel-like 
shed.  The  sheds  originally  made  at  Lake  Constance 
were  stationary,  and  it  was  impossible  to  bring  the 
airships  out  except  when  the  wind  blew  almost  di- 
rectly in  line  of  the  long  axis  of  the  shed.  Even  a  mild 
lateral  wind  would  bring  such  pressure  to  bear  as 
probably  to  break  the  airship  in  two.  This,  indeed,  is 
precisely  what  happened  to  the  British  Naval  airship 
"Mayfly"  when  it  was  being  towed  out  of  its  shed  for 
its  maiden  voyage. 

The  difficulty  can  be  met  by  having  the  shed  so 
constructed  as  to  rotate  on  its  axis,  like  a  draw-bridge. 
The  alternative  is  to  have  tracks  extending  from  the 
mouth  of  the  shed,  on  which  the  airship  may  be 
securely  anchored  and  thus  given  complete  rigidity 
before  being  run  into  the  shed. 

Of  course  the  Germans  have  no  monopoly  in  the 
building  of  airships.  The  French  are  close  competi- 
tors, and  their  newest  war-balloons,  particularly  those 
of  the  Clement-Bayard  type  (including  the  "Morning 
Post,"  which  was  built  in  France  and  piloted  across 

292 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

the  Channel  to  England)  are  highly  efficient.  But 
the  passenger  service  of  the  German  dirigibles  gives 
them  particular  interest.  The  equipment  of  the 
passenger  coach  of  the  two  "Deutsclands"  and  their 
successor  the  "Schwaben,"  compares  not  unfavorably 
with  that  of  a  railway  coach.  The  cabin  has  an 
aluminum  frame  lined  with  mahogany  and  rosewood 
and  inlaid  with  mother-of-pearl.  The  cabin  is  about 
35  feet  long  and  7^2  feet  wide,  and  divided  into  five 
apartments  equipped  with  wicker  chairs.  The  win- 
dow openings  are  of  course  wide,  so  as  to  give  an 
almost  unobstructed  view  in  all  directions.  There  is 
room  for  24  passengers  and  a  crew  of  8  men.  The 
destruction  of  the  Deutschland  on  its  second  trip, 
though  unattended  with  loss  of  life,  doubtless  damp- 
ened the  ardor  of  a  good  many  would-be  passengers; 
but  the  long  series  of  safe  passages  achieved  by  the 
Schwaben  and  the  Parseval  ships  has  served  to  re- 
store confidence,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  airships  will  grow  in  popularity. 

The  ships  have  proved  themselves  able  to  travel 
in  all  kinds  of  weather,  and  their  speed  compares 
favorably  with  that  of  the  fastest  ocean  steamers. 
The  Parseval  ship  "L.  P.  VI,"  for  example,  has  a 
record  of  a  trip  from  Munich  to  Berlin,  a  distance  of 
346  miles,  at  an  average  speed  of  26  miles  an  hour. 
The  Schwaben  has  three  145  horse-power  motors, 
capable  of  driving  the  ship  at  a  speed  of  about  35 
miles  an  hour.  Its  carrying  power  is  20  tons  at  sea 
level. 

It  is  rumored  that  similar  airships  are  to  be  built 
for  passenger  service  in  America  in  the  near  future. 

293 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

In  any  event,  it  seems  reasonable  to  expect  that  not 
merely  trans-continental  but  trans-atlantic  airship 
service  will  be  available  within  a  few  years. 

Whatever  may  be  the  importance  of  such  passenger 
service,  however,  it  is  not  this  possibility  that  accounts 
for  the  rapid  development  of  the  airship.  The  real 
spur  to  inventive  ingenuity,  accounting  for  the  official 
interest  in  the  airship  so  ardently  manifested  in 
Germany,  France,  and  England, -has  to  do  with  the 
possibilities  of  this  craft  as  an  agent  not  of  peaceful 
commerce  but  of  warfare.  This  accounts  for  the  de- 
velopnient  of  the  "Society  for  the  Study  of  Motor 
Aeronautics"  in  Germany,  and  for  the  recently  opened 
"Deutsch  Aero-Dynamic  Institute"  in  Paris. 

The  possibility  of  launching  a  ton  or  two  of  dyna- 
mite from  the  safe  heights  of  the  upper  atmsphere 
upon  the  deck  of  an  enemy's  ship  or  within  the  walls 
of  his  fortress,  is  the  vision  that  inspires  the  European 
powers-that-be  in  their  official  aid  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  airship. 

THE    TRUE    FLYING    MACHINE 

Even  the  most  powerful  dirigible  is,  after  all,  a 
floating  apparatus  rather  than  a  true  flying  machine. 
It  owes  its  buoyancy  to  the  fact  that  it  displaces  more 
than  its  own  weight  of  air;  therefore  it  rises  on  the 
same  principle  that  causes  the  rise  of  the  child's  toy 
balloon.  In  directing  its  course  upward  or  down- 
ward, as  well  as  laterally,  the  influence  of  guiding 
planes  or  rudders  is  of  course  necessary,  and  the  pro- 
peller blades,  driven  by  powerful  gasoline  engines, 
grip  the  air  precisely  as  the  propellers  of  a  steamship 

294 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

grip  the  water;  so  of  course  their  propulsive  power, 
combined  with  the  adjustment  of  the  guiding  planes, 
gives  the  balloon  a  degree  of  stability  in  the  air  and  of 
buoyancy  that  it  would  not  otherwise  have.  Indeed 
in  the  case  of  the  first  successful  dirigible  of  Santos 
Dumont,  the  buoyancy  was  almost  entirely  due  to 
the  propellers  and  horizontal  rudders,  the  balloon  with 
its  passenger  being  only  slightly  less  heavy  than  the 
air  it  displaced. 

But  it  is  obvious  that  a  flying  machine  that  must 
be  lighter  than  air  is  necessarily  of  such  bulk  as  to  be 
unwieldy;  and  all  along  the  ideal  that  inventors  had 
set  themselves  was  the  perfection  of  a  machine  that 
would  not  be  dependent  on  bulk  for  its  buoyancy;  one 
that  could  imitate  the  birds  and  bats  in  performing 
veritable  flight  in  the  air  rather  than  merely  floating, 
however  accurately  directed.  In  other  words,  the 
mechanism  sought  was  a  heavier-than-air  machine 
that  would  fly. 

In  that  first  year  of  our  new  century,  however,  in 
which  Santos  Dumont  achieved  success  with  his 
marvelous  dirigible,  there  were  not  many  men  of  ac- 
credited scientific  standing  in  the  world  who  thought 
that  this  ideal  would  ever  be  attained.  Indeed,  there 
was  only  one  famous  scientist  who  was  making  con- 
spicious  efforts  toward  the  practical  realization  of  the 
ideal.  This  was  Professor  Samuel  H.  Langley  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution.  Sir  Hiram  Maxim 
had  indeed,  performed  some  remarkable  experiments 
a  few  years  earlier,  constructing  a  gigantic  air 
machine,  which,  driven  by  propellers,  lifted  itself 
in  the  air  and  made  a  short  flight  stabilized  by  guid- 

295 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

ing  rods.  But  Langley  attacked  the  problem  from  a 
different  angle,  and  produced  a  model  flying  machine, 
with  two  pairs  of  canvas  wings  set  tandem  and  having 
a  spread  of  eleven  feet,  which,  driven  by  a  light  motor 
of  special  construction,  made  a  wonderful  flight  above 
the  Potomac  and  settled  to  the  water  uninjured. 

But  Langley's  larger  flying  machine,  constructed 
on  the  model  of  his  "aerodrome"  plunged  into  the 
Potomac  River  in  the  attempt  at  launching,  December 
8,  1903.  The  inventor  was  heart-broken;  and  the 
entire  public  chorussed  "I  told  you  so,"  and  gave 
the  matter  no  further  thought. 

The  entire  public?  Not  quite;  for  among  the 
seventy  odd  million  of  the  American  people  there  was 
an  undistinguished  minority  of  two  individuals  who 
differed  from  their  fellows  as  to  the  feasibility  of  hu- 
man flight.  These  two  were  Wilbur  and  Orville 
Wright,  obscure  bicycle  dealers  of  the  little  town  of 
Dayton,  Ohio.  While  Maxim  and  Langley,  each  in 
his  way,  had  been  making  strictly  scientific  experi- 
ments these  young  men,  aided  neither  by  private 
fortune  nor  public  subsidy,  had  been  devoting  their 
spare  time  to  experiments  in  gliding,  following  up  the 
work  of  the  ill-fated  Lilienthal  and  of  Messrs.  Herring 
and  Avery  and  Chanute. 

They  had  invented  a  new  type  of  bi-plane  glider, 
and  had  learned  to  manipulate  it  with  unexampled 
skill. 

Finally  they  attached  a  gas  engine  and  some  wood- 
en propellers  to  the  glider,  and  on  the  17th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1903,  little  over  a  week  after  the  final  mishap  to 
Langley's  machine,  they  put  their  strange  new  craft 

296 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

to  the  test.  In  the  presence  of  accredited  witnesses, 
with  one  of  the  inventors  aboard,  the  weird  contri- 
vance lifted  itself  into  the  air,  made  a  flight  of  852 
feet  in  the  face  of  a  twenty-mile  wind,  and  landed  its 
passenger  in  safety. 

That  day  the  aeroplane  was  born.  The  body 
of  this  wonderful  mechanism  consisted  of  two 
horizontal  planes  of  canvas  stretched  over  light 
wooden  frames,  with  their  long  diameters  ad- 
justed transversely  to  the  direction  of  flight,  like  the 
wings  of  a  bird.  The  box  kite  had  supplied  the  ob- 
vious model  for  the  body  of  the  aeroplane;  and  a 
gasoline  motor  driving  two  pairs  of  wooden  propeller 
blades  served  to  push  the  apparatus  forward  and  vir- 
tually supplied  a  buoying  air  current  comparable  to 
that  supplied  the  box  kite  by  the  wind.  A  kite  can- 
not fly  unless  the  wind  has  a  certain  strength;  nor 
could  the  Wright  -aeroplane  sustain  itself  in  the  air 
unless  driven  forward  at  a  relatively  high  speed — not 
far  from  forty  miles  an  hour.  As  originally  operated, 
it  received  initial  momentum  from  a  catapult-like 
arrangement,  and  needed  also  the  aid  of  the  wind 
to  help  support  it  until  it  acquired  full  momentum. 
Once  in  the  air,  however,  it  attained  a  speed  of  forty 
or  fifty  miles  an  hour,  and  its  course  could  be  steered 
in  any  given  direction  regardless  of  the  air  currents. 

A  pair  of  horizontal  rudders,  originally  placed  in 
front  of  the  main  wings  but  it  later  models  at  the 
rear,  provided  for  the  vertical  guidance  of  the  appar- 
atus; and  a  pair  of  vertical  rudders  at  the  back 
steered  the  machine  to  right  or  left. 

An  equally  vital  feature  of  the  steering  mechanism 
20  297 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

was  the  fact  that  the  main  wings  of  the  aeroplane 
were  so  constructed  that  their  rear  edges  could  be 
warped  independently;  thus  varying  the  angle  of  in- 
cidence and  hence  the  resistance  to  air  pressure.  By 
warping  the  edges  of  the  right  wings  downward, 
those  of  the  left  wings  remaining  stationary,  the 
machine  would  be  made  to  tip  to  the  left;  the  reverse 
warping  would  produce  the  opposite  effect.  A  method 
was  thus  provided  for  meeting  the  disturbing  influ- 
ence of  changing  air  currents  and  gusts  of  wind, 
which  otherwise  would  overturn  the  machine.  The 
vital  importance  of  this  feature  of  the  mechanism  is 
obvious. 

But  since  the  warping  wings  of  the  machine,  while 
stabilizing  it  laterally,  would  tend  to  deflect  it  from 
its  course,  the  apparatus  was  so  arranged  that  a  single 
lever  controlled  the  flexible  portion  of  the  wings  and 
the  vertical  rudders,  the  guidance  of  the  latter 
counteracting  the  disturbing  influence  that  would 
otherwise  result  from  the  twist  of  the  wing  tips.  The 
discovery  of  this  combination  constituted  the  crown- 
ing achievement  of  the  .Wright  brothers,  and  made 
their  aeroplane  a  manageable  mechanism.  In  other 
words,  it  made  the  flying  machine  a  machine  in  which 
a  man  could  fly. 

All  this  was  accomplished,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
1903.  But  for  a  time  the  Wright  brothers  did 
not  take  the  public  into  their  confidence,  being  chiefly 
concerned  in  interesting  our  government  in  the  aero- 
plane as  an  auxiliary  instrument  of  war,  and  it  was 
not  until  1906  that  the  details  as  to  the  principles  of 
the  wonderful  aeroplane  were  accessible  through  Pat- 

298 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

ent  Office  specifications.  Then  a  host  of  imitators 
set  to  work  devising  air  craft  of  many  patterns.  Some 
of  these  are  to  casual  observation  very  different  from 
the  Wright  machine;  in  particular  the  monoplanes, 
of  which  M.  Bleriot's  is  the  best  known.  But  in 
their  principles  of  operation  all  aeroplanes  yet  de- 
vised are  indentical.  No  machine  has  yet  carried  a 
passenger  in  safety  that  did  not  depend  for  its  stabil- 
ity upon  warped  wings  or  their  equivalent,  combined 
with  the  use  of  vertical  and  horizontal  rudders.  De- 
tails aside,  all  aeroplanes  thus  far  invented  are  Wright 
aeroplanes. 

It  is  worth  while  to  emphasize  this  point,  because 
attempts  are  constantly  made  to  becloud  the  issue. 
It  has  been  urged  that  the  Wrights  were  not  abso- 
lutely the  first  users  of  any  one  of  the  devices  that 
they  combined  to  make  their  aeroplane.  They  did 
not  invent  the  canvas  planes  or  the  vertical  or  hori- 
zontal rudders  or  the  warping  wings  or  the  motor. 
Very  true;  but  they  used  them  first  in  successful 
combination,  producing  for  the  first  time  in  history 
a  flying  machine  heavier  than  air  that  would  fly  and 
carry  a  passenger,  and  go  where  directed  and  land 
in  safety.  Their  title  as  inventors  of  the  aeroplane 
is  far  clearer  than  the  titles  of  the  accredited  invent- 
ors of  the  steamship,  the  steam  locomotive,  or  the 
telegraph. 

So  the  17th  of  December,  1903,  must  stand  out  as 
one  of  the  memorable  dates  in  the  history  of  civiliza- 
tion. And  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  in  the 
remote  stretches  of  the  future  the  names  of  Wilbur 
and  Orville  Wright  will  be  remembered  when  the 

299 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

bulk  of  the  names  that  now  loom  large  in  our  genera- 
tion are  utterly  forgotten. 

HIGH   FLYING 

The  more  recent  history  of  the  development  of  the 
art  of  flying  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge.  But  it 
may  be  of  interest  to  recall  a  few  specific  achieve- 
ments. 

/  On  the  17th  day  of  September,  1912,  a  French  avia- 
/  tor,  M.  Georges  Legagneaux,  soared  into  the  air  in  his 
monoplane,  and  in  the  course  of  three-quarters  of 
an  hour  had  attained  the  dizzy  height  of  three  and  a 
V  half  miles;  or,  to  be  more  precisely  accurate,  5,720 
^  meters,  or  18,761.60  feet.  The  accomplishment  gained 
wide  attention,  because  it  constituted  a  record;  yet  it 
can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  occasioned  surprise,  for 
after  all  it  exceeded  a  record  made  ten  days  before 
by  M.  Garros  by  only  about  2500  feet.  Meantime 
another  aviator  had  gone  to  the  height  of  13,000  feet 
carrying  a  passenger;  and  yet  another  had  piloted 
two  passengers  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  into  the 
air.  Moreover  the  record  made  by  Legagneaux  was 
surpassed  by  Garros,  who  attained  18,400  feet  at 
Tunis,  on  December  llth;  and  this  record  in  turn 
gave  way  to  one  established  by  M.  Perreyon  in 
France  on  March  11,  1913,  the  new  record  being 
19,685  feet  or  almost  three  and  three  quarter  miles. 
It  is  thought  that  the  limit  has  nearly  been 
reached  with  motors  of  the  present  type,  as  the 
air  at  this  great  height  becomes  so  thin  as  to  reduce 
greatly  the  lifting  power  of  the  aeroplane  and  the 
horse  power  of  the  motor.  The  great  cold  makes 

300 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

the  feat  difficult  for  the  aviator,  and  it  is  usually  neces- 
sary to  inspire  oxygen  carried  in  a  tank.  All  in  all, 
the  feat  of  bestriding  a  ton  of  steel  and  canvas  and 
lifting  the  unwieldy  hulk  above  the  clouds  seems 
little  less  than  miraculous. 

A  high  record  of  another  type  was  gained  (also  in 
France)  by  Pierre  Gougenheim  in  piloting  an  eighty 
horse  power  biplane  carrying  four  additional  pas- 
sengers to  the  height  of  2461  feet.  The  feat  was  ac- 
complished in  a  heavy  wind,  and  a  greater  altitude 
would  have  been  reached  but  for  a  shower. 

In  September,  1913,  M.  Pegoud  twice  performed 
the  astonishing  feat  of  voluntarily  describing  a  letter 
S  in  the  air,  flying  upside  down  for  several  hundred 
yards  in  so  doing. 

The  speed  possibilities  of  the  aeroplane  are  sug- 
gested by  the  105.5  miles  an  hour  made  by  Jules  Ved- 
rines  at  Chicago  in  1912  over  a  course  of  124.8  miles, 
in  a  140  horse  power  monoplane.  In  the  matter 
of  endurance  flights  and  long  distance  journeys 
through  the  air  there  are  new  records  almost  weekly. 
One  aviator  has  flown  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific;  another  has  gone  from  Paris  to  St.  Peters- 
burgh;  and  the  flight  from  Paris  to  London  is 
almost  commonplace.  In  June,  ,1913,  M.  des  Mouli- 
nais  made  a  933-mile  flight  from  Paris  to  Warsaw, 
his  time  in  the  air  being  ten  hours,  and  his  average 
speed,  93  miles  an  hour.  M.  Guillaux  flew  859% 
miles  in  a  day;  and,  on  September  15th,  1913,  with  a 
pessenger,  118  miles  in  fifty  minutes.  M.  Letorl  flew 
590  miles  without  a  stop;  and  in  America  Mr.  C.  M. 
Wood  made  on  August  8th,  1913  a  nonstop  flight 

301 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

from  Hempstead,  Long  Island  to  Fort  Meyer,  a  dis- 
tance of  329  miles,  in  4  hours  and  31  minutes. 

THE  HYDROAEROPLANE 

But  all  these  are  matters  of  detail.  The  only  really 
essential  modifications  of  the  aeroplane  in  the  first 
decade  of  its  existence  relate  to  the  methods  of 
starting  and  landing.  The  first  modification,  which 
was  introduced  early  by  European  aviators,  notably 
Mr.  Henry  Farman,  and  which  was  soon  universally 
adopted,  consists  of  adjusting  bicycle  wheels  to  the 
frame  of  the  machine.  A  still  more  striking  modi- 
fication depends  upon  an  arrangement  designed  to 
permit  the  aeroplane  to  rise  from  and  alight  on  the 
water.  The  development  of  this  idea  has  resulted 
in  the  so-called  hydroaeroplane. 

The  advantages  of  this  type  of  air  craft  are  obvious. 
They  were  pointed  out  by  Octave  Chanute,  a  pioneer 
in  the  use  of  soaring  apparatus,  in  the  early  days  of 
experimental  aviation.  Langley  made  his  experi- 
ments over  water  courses,  as  did  Hargreaves,  Bler- 
iot,  and  Kress.  But  Fabre  in  France  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  to  succeed  in  making  a  machine  that 
would  rise  from  the  water.  Mr.  Glenn  H.  Curtiss,  the 
American  aviator,  has  been  prominent  in  perfecting 
the  apparatus.  It  should  not  be  overlooked  that  a 
clue  was  given  by  Wilbur  Wright  when  he  made  his 
historic  flight  up  the  Hudson  in  1909;  his  aeroplane 
on  that  occasion  being  equipped  with  a  covered 
canoe,  to  give  it  safety  in  the  event  of  an  inadvertent 
descent  into  the  river. 

The  hydroaeroplane  is  simply  a  combination  of 

302 


UPPER  FIGURE:    THE  FARMAN  HYDROAEROPLANE 
LOWER  FIGURE:    A  FRENCH    FLYING-BOAT 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

boat  and  flying-machine.  But  the  boat  must  be  of 
such  shape  that  it  will  skim  through  the  water  with 
the  least  possible  resistance,  and  equipped  with  a 
powerful  motor. 

At  the  present  time  two  types  of  hydroaeroplanes 
are  popular,  one  of  which  might  be  described  as  a 
flying-machine  with  floats,  the  other  as  a  boat  with 
wings.  In  the  first  of  these,  the  floats,  two  in  num- 
ber, are  in  the  form  of  a  catamaran,  the  operator  oc- 
cupying a  seat  in  the  same  position  as  on  the  aero- 
plane. In  the  other,  the  single  hull  serves  as  a  seat 
for  the  operator  as  well  as  a  float,  and  the  craft,  if 
shorn  of  its  wings,  would  resemble  the  racing  type 
of  motorboat.  These  single  hull  hydroaeroplanes 
are  kept  from  cap-sizing  by  small  auxiliary  floats 
placed  beneath  the  tips  of  the  wings,  and  it  is  claimed 
by  the  advocates  of  this  type  that  it  has  manifest 
advantages  over  the  catamaran  in  rising  more  readily 
from  rough  water. 

PRACTICAL  USES  OF  THE  AEROPLANE 

As  yet  little  practical  use  has  been  found  for  the 
aeroplane  except  in  military  and  naval  operations. 
But  in  these  it  is  proving  revolutionary.  Thus  far  its 
success  has  lain  largely  in  the  field  of  scouting — one 
of  the  most  important  features  of  military  maneuvers. 
How  successful  the  army  scouts  have  proved  them- 
selves is  shown  .by  the  fact  that  in  England  the  au- 
tumn army  maneuvers  of  1912  were  terminated  be- 
cause the  movements  of  the  opposing  armies  could  not 
be  concealed  from  the  airmen,  and  the  commanders 
found  the  hitherto  accepted  tactics  impractical. 

303 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

Thus,  as  "the  eyes  of  the  army/'  the  aeroplane,  equip- 
ped with  wireless  telegraph  apparatus,  has  proved 
its  value. 

But  the  aeroplane  is  making  rapid  progress  as  a 
fighting-machine  as  well.  In  August,  1912,  Lieut. 
Scott,  an  American,  won  the  Michelin  Target  Compe- 
titions in  France,  by  dropping  twelve  out  of  fifteen 
bombs  into  a  circle  of  66  feet  in  diameter  from  a 
height  of  656  feet.  This  performance  would  seem  to 
place  the  aeroplane  in  the  position  of  a  destructive 
agent  that  must  be  reckoned  with.  Indeed,  armies 
of  all  nations  are  making  such  a  reckoning. 

Four  classes  of  bombs  have  been  designed  for  these 
aerial  fighters:  (1)  heavy  explosive  bombs,  to  be  used 
against  ships,  dockyards,  railways,  bridges,  and  build- 
ings; (2)  small  bombs  or  hand-grenades,  for  troops 
assembled  in  masses;  (3)  incendiary  projectiles,  for 
destroying  buildings  or  magazines;  (4)  metal  pro- 
jectiles, for  attacking  air-craft. 

Meanwhile  the  armies  and  navies  of  the  world  are 
busy  with  designs  of  guns  for  destroying  aeroplanes 
and  dirigibles;  and  Col.  Isaac  N.  Lewis,  of  the  United 
States  Army,  has  perfected  an  automatic  gun  which 
may  be  used  from  the  airship,  or  against  it.  This 
gun,  which  fires  at  the  maximum  rate  of  750  shots  a 
minute,  weighs  only  twenty-five  pounds,  and  is  air- 
cooled.  It  was  designed  primarily  for  the  use  of 
cavalry  and  infantry,  for  which  it  is  admirably  adapt- 
ed, but  its  unique  features  make  it  peculiarly  useful 
as  an  aerial  weapon. 

This  gun  was  tested  in  June,  1912,  and  from  a 
height  of  600  feet  placed  forty-five  shots  in  a  space 

304 


FRENCH    HYDROAEROPLANES    OF    MONOPLANE    AND    BIPLANE    TYPES 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

three  yards  by  eighteen  while  the  aeroplane  was  mov- 
ing at  a  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour.  The  bullets  used 
are  the  regulation  30-caliber  used  by  the  army. 

It  remains  to  be  seen  what  practical  uses  may  be 
found  for  the  aeroplane  in  solving  transportation 
problems  of  the  future.  Such  a  flight  as  that  made 
in  August,  1913,  by  Mr.  Harry  G.  Hawker  in  his  hy- 
droaeroplane flight  around  the  British  coast,  in  which 
he  covered  1043  miles  in  about  as  many  minutes' 
flying  time,  carrying  a  passenger  and  making  494 
miles  in  his  best  day's  journey,  suggests  practical  uses 
for  the  aeroplane,  and  particularly  for  the  hydroaero- 
plane, that  as  yet  are  almost  untested. 

THE  WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH 

In  rounding  out  this  brief  survey  of  the  triumphs  of 
science  in  overcoming  the  barriers  of  time  and  space, 
there  remains  for  notice  perhaps  the  most  mystifying 
achievement  of  all,  the  invention  of  the  wireless  tele- 
graph. This  might  be  called  a  conquest  not  merely 
of  the  air,  but  of  the  ether.  And  it  has  the  double 
merit  of  being  a  scientific  achievement  which  has  obvi- 
ous elements  of  the  utmost  practicality. 

As  evidence  of  the  interest  that  attaches  to  the 
achievement  as  a  fundamental  investigation  in  sci- 
ence, it  may  be  noted  that  the  Nobel  prize  in  physics 
was  given  in  1900  to  Signor  G.  Marconi  and  Professor 
Ferdinand  Braun  in  recognition  of  their  contributions 
to  the  perfection  of  the  wireless  telegraph.  As  evi- 
dence of  the  practical  character  of  the  achievement,  it 
suffices  to  recall  that  every  large  ocean  liner  is  now 
equipped  with  its  wireless  apparatus,  and  that  the 

305 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

Marconi  service  is  in  active  competition  with  the 
transatlantic  cables  in  sending  news  from  one  conti- 
nent to  another. 

To  the  American  public  Professor  Braun's  name 
is  by  no  means  so  familiar  as  Signor  Marconi's,  but 
the  wireless  system  of  the  former  is  very  generally 
used  in  Germany,  and  is  also  extensively  used  in  the 
American  army.  Neither  of  the  distinguished  men 
in  question  is  the  original  discoverer  of  the  method 
of  transmitting  messages  through  the  air,  but  they  * 
were  among  the  most  prominent  developers  of  the 
method.  To  Marconi  unquestionably  belongs  the 
honor  of  sending  the  first  message  across  the  ocean. 
This  transcendent  fact  was  accomplished  on  the  12th 
of  December,  1901,  a  single  letter  being  signalled 
repeatedly  on  that  day.  Complete  messages  were 
first  sent  December  21,  1902. 

Had  the  great  German  physicist  Hertz  been  living, 
it  is  probable  that  he  would  have  been  named  along 
with  the  two  inventors  of  the  wireless  in  connection 
with  the  Nobel  $>rize.  For  it  was  his  investigation 
that  gave  the  clue  to  the  practical  work  of  his  suc- 
cessors. Even  before  Hertz  made  his  demonstration 
of  the  electro-magnetic  waves  that  are  used  in  send- 
ing 'the  wireless  messages,  the  great  Englishman, 
Clerk  Maxwell,  had  theoretically  shown  the  existence 
of  such  waves  in  connection  with  his  electro-magnetic 
theory  of  light.  But  the  tangible  demonstration  was 
made  by  Hertz  through  the  development  of  a  very 
rapidly  oscillating  current  of  electricity  which  gener- 
ates measurable  waves  in  the  ether. 

In  all  probability  these  waves  differ  in  no  wise 

306 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

from  the  ether  waves  that  we  interpret  as  light  except 
in  their  length,  but  in  this  regard  the  difference  is 
enormous.  The  longest  wave  that  is  visible  to  the 
eye  is  of  such  infinitesimal  dimensions  that  33,000 
waves  are  required  to  span  the  distance  of  a  single 
inch.  But  the  electro-magnetic  wave  with  which 
the  wireless  operator  deals  may  measure  scores  or 
hundreds  of  miles.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  the 
electric  current  generating  the  wave  oscillates  at 
intervals  of  the  one  thousandth  of  a  second.  Then, 
since  the  wave  travels  186,000  miles  per  second,  each 
wave  will  obviously  be  186  miles  in  length.  In  prac- 
tice, the  waves  used  in  transatlantic  radiography  are 
between  two  and  three  miles  in  length. 

Such  a  discrepancy  in  size  being  noted,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  electro-magnetic  waves  used  by 
the  wireless  have  a  penetrating  power  altogether 
different  from  that  of  the  tiny  light  waves.  In  point 
of  fact  the  waves  that  transmit  the  wireless  messages 
penetrate  any  substance  that  lies  in  their  path,  includ- 
ing mountains.  Curiously  enough,  bright  sunlight 
may  obstruct  the  waves,  presumably  because  of  the 
presence  of  electrons  in  the  atmosphere. 

The  possibilities  of  wireless  communication  had 
been  conceived  by  many  experimenters.  As  long 
ago  as  1887  Mr.  Thomas  Edison  proved  that  mes- 
sages could  be  sent  to  and  from  a  moving  train,  com- 
munication being  established  through  the  air  be- 
tween the  operator  on  the  train  and  the  ordinary 
telegraph  wires  along  the  track.  By  various  other 
experimenters  the  possibility  of  communication  with- 
out wire  was  considered  and  more  clearly  demon- 

307 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

strated.  The  methods  involved  as  outlined  by  Pro- 
fessor J.  A.  Fleming,  included  electrical  conduction 
through  soil  or  sea;  magnetic  induction  through 
space;  a  combination  of  these  methods,  and  electro- 
static induction.  But  after  Hertz  made  his  famous 
demonstration  with  electric  waves,  it  became  appar- 
ent that  this  form  of  radiation  offered  possibilities 
surpassing  all  others. 

Two  great  difficulties  confronted  the  experiment- 
ers: the  production  of  electric  waves  of  great  power, 
and  the  detection  of  the  waves  at  a  distance.  The 
first  important  clue  to  a  practical  method  of  detect- 
ing the  waves  was  given  by  the  Frenchman  Branly, 
who  showed  in  1890  that  a  loose  metallic  powder  is 
changed  from  a  poor  to  a  good  conductor  by  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Hertzian  waves.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  ex- 
tended the  experiments  along  this  line  and  in  1894  ex- 
hibited a  little  apparatus  which  he  called  a  coherer, 
which  consisted  essentially  of  metallic  filings  in 
a  tube  connected  with  an  electric  circuit.  These  fil- 
ings, loosely  arranged,  resist  the  passage  of  eletric- 
ity;  but  when  influenced  by  Hertzian  waves,  sent 
through  the  air  from  a  distance,  the  filings  "cohere" 
and  readily  permit  the  passage  of  the  electric  cur- 
rent. A  tap  on  the  tube  restores  the  filings  to  their 
original  condition  of  non-conductivity. 

Sir  William  Crookes,  as  early  as  1892,  suggested 
that  Branly's  discovery  regarding  the  metal  filings 
might  be  utilized  in  the  sending  of  wireless  tele- 
graphic messages.  But  no  one  showed  practically 
how  this  might  be  effected  until  Signer  Marconi 
began  his  investigations.  In  1896  Marconi  had  per- 

308 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

fected  an  improved  coherer,  which  consisted  of  a 
glass  tube  four  millimeters  in  diameter  with  two 
silver  plugs  connected  with  the  wires  of  an  electric 
battery  but  separated  within  the  tube  by  an  inter- 
space of  about  one  millimeter,  this  space  being  partly 
filled  with  metallic  filings,  5  per  cent,  silver  and  95 
per  cent,  nickel.  Marconi  had  discovered  that  if  his 
coherer  had  "one  terminal  attached  to  a  metallic 
plate,  lying  on  the  earth,  or  buried  in  it,  and  the 
other  to  the  insulated  plate  above  the  ground,  it 
would  detect  the  presence  of  very  feeble  electric 
waves." 

He  had  also  discovered  that  he  could  advantageous- 
ly produce  electric  waves  of  great  carrying  power 
by  the  use  of  a  large  induction  or  spark  coil  with 
spark  balls  placed  a  few  millimeters  apart,  one  ball 
being  connected  with  the  earth  plate  and  the  other 
with  plates  or  wires  insulated  at  the  upper  end  and 
raised  into  the  air.  He  put  the  apparatus  in  opera- 
tion with  the  aid  of  an  ordinary  telegraphic  signal- 
ling key  placed  in  the  primary  circuit  of  the  induc- 
tion coil.  When  the  key  was  pressed  there  was  a 
rush  of  electric  sparks  between  the  balls  alternately 
charging  and  discharging  the  elevated  conducting1 
wires  and  creating  electrical  oscillations.  The  longer 
or  shorter  pressure  of  the  key  varied  the  action  of 
this  transmitter  making  possible  the  use  of  the  reg- 
ular Morse  code. 

Electric  waves  sent  out  by  such  a  transmitter 
radiate  into  space,  and  their  sequence  of  emission 
in  longer  or  shorter  series  in  response  to  the  pressure 
of  the  telegraph  key,  is  recorded  by  the  receptive 

309 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

coherer,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  transmits  the  electric 
current  of  its  own  circuit  only  while  the  Hertzian 
waves  beat  upon  it,  and  which  is  automatically  re- 
stored to  its  condition  of  non-conductivity  by  the 
apparatus  that  taps  gently  against  the  tube. 

Such  was  the  essential  character  of  the  apparatus 
through  which  Signor  Marconi  made  his  conquest 
of  the  ether.  The  modifications  that  have  since  been 
made  pertain  to  the  production  of  more  powerful 
transmitters  on  one  hand  and  more  sensitive  receiv- 
ers on  the  other.  They  include  partially  successful 
attempts  to  send  the  electric  waves  in  a  desired  di- 
rection; and  magnetic  receivers  of  greater  sensitive- 
ness than. the  metal  filing  coherer.  The  most  strik- 
ing amplification  of  the  method,  however,  is  the  at- 
tempt to  adapt  the  apparatus  to  the  transmission 
of  the  human  voice;  to  perfect,  in  other  words,  a 
wireless  telephone. 

In  this  effort  a  large  measure  of  success  has  been 
attained,  in  particular  by  the  American,  Dr.  Lee  De 
Forest,  who  in  1907  perfected  an  instrument  with 
which  he  could  transmit  the  music  of  a  phonograph 
between  stations  situated  in  different  city  blocks.  A 
few  weeks  later  he  was  able  to  report  by  voice  the 
results  of  yacht  races  at  a  distance  of  about  four 
miles.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  his  instru- 
ments were  installed  on  the  American  fleet  of  war 
vessels  on  their  trip  round  the  globe,  and  kept  the 
vessels  in  verbal  communication  with  each  other, 
in  storm  and  calm,  during  the  entire  voyage.  A  year 
later  it  was  reported  that  messages  had  been  sent  and 
received  at  a  distance  of  over  500  miles,  and  that  a 

310 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

practical  Corking  service  between  Chicago  and  Mil- 
waukee had  been  put  into  operation.  Nevertheless 
the  wireless  telephone  has  not  made  its  way  as  a  com- 
mercial mechanism  as  rapidly  as  might  have  been 
anticipated. 

AUDIBLE  LIGHT 

The  impulse  that  comes  by  wireless,  like  that 
which  flashes  over  the  telegraph  wire,  is  only  a  puls- 
ing of  energy  that  in  itself  conveys  no  definite  mes- 
sage except  as  it  is  broken  into  longer  and  shorter  re- 
lays, so  to  speak,  in  the  familiar  sequence  of  the 
Morse  alphabet,  or  is  translated  into  sound-waves  by 
the  telephone  receiver.  It  is  wonderful  enough  in 
all  reason,  that  these  impulses  can  be  translated  into 
words;  but  this  is  not  quite  the  ultimate  achievement 
at  which  the  inventor  aims.  Ever  since  the  tele- 
graph was  devised,  and  in  particular  since  the  inven- 
tion of  the  telephone,  men  have  dreamed  of  the 
possibility  of  doing  for  the  eye  what  the  electric 
current  does  for  the  ear;  in  other  words,  they  have 
sought  a  means  of  transmitting  visible  as  well  as 
audible  messages. 

An  inkling  of  the  curious  possibilities  of  inter- 
changing sight  and  hearing  is  given  by  an  apparatus 
recently  devised  by  an  imaginative  English  physi- 
cist, Dr.  Fournier  d'Albe:  an  apparatus  that  enables 
a  blind  man  to  distinguish  between  light  and  dark- 
ness, and  even  under  certain  circumstances  to  recog- 
nize the  presence  of  opaque  objects  at  a  distance.  In 
a  recent  public  test  of  the  apparatus,  a  blind  man 
standing  in  the  center  of  a  room  was  able  to  count  the 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

windows  in  the  room,  and  to  number  the  people  who 
stood  between  him  and  the  windows.  He  utilized 
the  sense  of  hearing,  yet  the  apparatus  used  depended 
on  the  influence  of  light.  Hence  the  experiments 
have  been  picturesquely,  if  not  quite  accurately,  re- 
ferred to  as  making  light  audible. 

The  apparatus  employed,  to  which  the  inventor 
has  given  the  name  optophone,  is  essentially  a  tele- 
phone into  the  circuit  of  which  a  cell  of  the  curious 
element  selenium  has  been  introduced.  This  sub- 
stance has  the  peculiar  property  of  being  very  resist- 
ant to  the  passage  of  the  electric  current  when  in  the 
dark,  and  of  transmitting  it  readily  in  the  light.  The 
optophone  is  so  constructed  that  the  selenium  cell  is 
screened  from  the  light  except  as  admitted  through 
a  narrow  tube.  When  this  tube  is  directed  toward 
the  light,  the  current  passes,  and  the  holder  of  the 
telephone  hears  a  buzzing  or  whirring  sound.  But 
when  the  tube  is  directed  toward  a  dark  object,  the 
current  is  obstructed,  and  the  sound  in  the  receiver 
ceases  or  is  weakened. 

This  explains  how  the  blind  man,  by  sweeping  the 
tube  slowly  about,  could  detect  the  presence  of  here 
and  there  a  human  being.  The  apparatus  has  not  yet 
been  sufficiently  perfected  to  enable  the  blind  man 
to  detect  chairs  or  other  small  pieces  of  furniture  but 
it  is  hoped  that  a  practical  apparatus  serving  this  pur- 
pose, and  having  great  utility  for  the  blind,  will  even- 
tually be  developed  along  the  lines  of  the  optophone. 

The  curious  element  used  in  the  interesting  appara- 
tus was  referred  to  in  a  cabled  newspaper  despatch 
not  long  ago  as  "a  rare  radioactive  substance,  re- 

312 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

cently  discovered  by  Mme.  Curie."  In  point  of  fact, 
selenium  is  neither  radioactive  nor  of  recent  discov- 
ery. Moreover  it  is  not  a  rare  element.  It  is  wide- 
ly distributed  in  nature,  but  occurs  in  small  quantities. 
It  was  discovered  and  named  by  the  famous  Swedish 
chemist  Berzelius,  as  long  ago  as  1817.  The  word 
selenium  is  from  selenus,  the  Greek  name  for  the 
moon,  and  was  given  because  the  element  is  usually 
found  associated  with  tellurium  (from  tellurus, 
earth) ;  a  fanciful  association  of  ideas  characteristic 
of  the  imaginative  mind  of  the  discoverer,  who  was 
one  of  the  fathers  of  modern  chemistry. 

While  Dr.  d'Albe's  optophone  is  novel  and  spectac- 
ular in  its  precise  accomplishment,  it  depends  upon 
a  principle  that  has  previously  been  utilized  in  the 
construction  of  several  interesting  mechanisms.  The 
fact  that  selenium  conducts  electricity  only  in  the 
light  was  discovered  by  a  Mr.  May  and  confirmed 
and  reported  by  Willoughby  Smith,  telegraph  oper- 
ators at  Valencia,  as  long  ago  as  1873.  It  was  at 
once  surmised  that  interesting  applications  of  the 
anomalous  fact  might  in  time  be  made.  Some  illus- 
trations of  the  possibilities  were  given  by  Mr.  Wm.  J. 
Hammer  before  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  in  New  York.  Mr.  Hammer  fired  a  cannon 
over  the  heads  of  the  audience  by  throwing  a  beam  of 
light  from  a  distance;  and  he  operated  a  five  horse 
power  dynamo,  alternately  starting  and  stopping  it 
at  will,  merely  by  waving  his  hand  across  a  beam  of 
light  directed  toward  a  selenium  cell  introduced  in  the 
electric  circuit. 

Mr.  Hammer  suggested  that  the  cannon  of  a  fort 

21  3*3 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

might  be  so  arranged  in  time  of  war  that  the  search 
light  of  a  hostile  ship  would  discharge  the  weapon 
just  at  the  moment  when  it  was  so  directed  as  to 
send  its  missile  to  the  ship  furnishing  the  source  of 
light.  He  suggested  also  that  selenium  cells  might 
be  arranged  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  possible  direct 
vision  over  a  telephone  wire; — not  the  mere  sending 
of  pictures,  but  actual  vision  of  objects,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, the  face  of  the  talker  at  the  other  end  of  the 
wire.  But  whatever  the  possibilities  in  this  direction, 
no  such  instrument  has  yet  reached  the  commercial 
stage. 

PHOTOGRAPHS  BY  WIRE  AND  BY  WIRELESS 

Meantime  the  curious  property  of  selenium  has  been 
utilized  in  a  very  ingenious  manner  in  the  develop- 
ment of  a  system  of  sending  pictures  by  electric  wire, 
the  originator  of  the  method  being  Professor  Korn, 
now  of  Berlin.  The  apparatus  that  he  devised  was 
put  into  practical  use  as  long  ago  as  November,  1907, 
for  the  telegraphic  transmission  of  pictures  from 
Paris  to  a  London  newspaper;  and  Professor  Korn 
is  now  perfecting  apparatus  with  a  view  of  transmit- 
ting photographs  from  New  York  to  London. 

The  essentials  of  the  process  consist  of  wrapping 
a  photograph  made  on  celluloid  about  a  glass  cylinder, 
and  revolving  the  cylinder  in  such  a  way  that  the 
focussed  beam  of  a  Nernst  electric  lamp  penetrates 
the  successive  portions  of  the  photograph,  in  a  spiral 
path  that  finally  takes  in  the  entire  cylinder,  just  as 
the  needle  of  an  Edison  phonograph  traverses  the 
close  spiral  constituting  the  phonograph  record. 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

It  is  obvious  that  as  the  beam  of  light  passes  over 
successive  portions  of  the  transparent  photograph, 
the  intensity  of  the  .transmitted  light  will  vary  con- 
stantly with  the  tone  of  the  photograph  itself.  The 
high  lights  of  the  photograph  will  be  represented  by 
blank  spaces  on  the  celluloid  that  will  not  obscure  the 
light  at  all;  whereas  the  deepest  shadows  will  obstruct 
it  altogether;  and  the  middle  tones  will  transmit  light 
of  varying  intensity. 

All  this  is  a  simple  matter  of  physics  having  noth- 
ing to  do  with  electricity  or  with  selenium.  The 
agency  of  the  latter  is  invoked  when  the  constantly 
varying  beam  of  light  transmitted  to  the  interior  of 
the  glass  cylinder  is  reflected  by  a  prism  in  such 
a  way  as  to  fall  on  a  plate  of  selenium  introduced  in 
the  telegraphic  circuit.  As  the  intensity  of  the  light 
constantly  fluctuates,  the  current  of  electricity  trans- 
mitted through  the  selenium  fluctuates  correspond- 
ingly; and  this  oscillation  in  the  electric  current  is 
recorded  at  the  other  end  of  the  line,  with  the  aid  of 
another  selenium  plate  and  prism,  by  a  beam  of  light 
acting  on  a  receiving  drum  covered  with  a  sensitive 
photographic  film  and  exactly  indentical  in  size  and 
rate  of  revolution  with  the  glass  cylinder  of  the  send- 
ing instrument. 

The  photograph  printed  on  the  receiving  cylinder 
shows  a  nice  gradation  of  lights  and  shadows  and  is  a 
relatively  close  copy  of  the  original.  When  closely 
examined,  however,  it  will  appear  that  the  new  photo- 
graph is  composed  of  parallel  lines,  which  widen  or 
grow  thin  according  to  the  density  of  the  picture. 
These  lines  represent  the  original  spiral  which,  now 

315 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

that  the  picture  is  removed  from  the  cylinder  and 
laid  flat,  appear  as  parallel  lines  drawn  across  the 
picture.  It  is  obvious  that  the  closeness  of  the  spiral 
will  determine  the  degree  of  accuracy  with  which  the 
tones  of  the  original  are  reproduced. 

Although  this  system  of  tarnsmitting  pictures 
proved  a  commercial  practicality,  it  early  occurred  to 
Professor  Korn  that  he  could  improve  upon  it  for 
commercial  purposes  by  a  method  which  retained  the 
cylinders,  but  operated  otherwise  in  a  quite  different 
manner.  The  new  method  utilizes  an  apparatus  which 
Professor  Korn  calls  a  telautograph.  It  was  further 
improved  by  Mr.  T.  Thorne  Baker  of  London,  whose 
perfected  instrument  is  called  a  telectograph.  This 
instrument  makes  no  use  of  selenium,  and  the 
principle  upon  which  it  works  is  not  that  of  a  fluctuat- 
ing but  of  an  interrupted  current. 

The  picture  to  be  transmitted  must  now  be  com- 
posed of  lines,  like  a  pen  drawing,  or  of  dots,  as  in 
case  of  a  half  tone.  The  picture  is  printed  with  some 
non-conducting  substance  such  as  fish-glue  on  a  thin 
sheet  of  lead,  and  this  is  wrapped  about  a  cylinder 
as  in  the  other  apparatus.  A  point  of  metal  connected 
with  the  transmitting  electric  wire  is  arranged  to 
touch  the  cylinder  and  traverse  it  in  a  spiral  as  the 
cylinder  revolves,  precisely  as  the  needle  of  the  Edi- 
son phonograph  traverses  the  cylindrical  record.  As 
the  metallic  point  passes  over  dots  or  lines  on  the 
picture,  the  current  is  interrupted;  but  contrariwise 
the -current  is  transmitted  when  the  point  comes  in 
contact  with  the  lead  surface,  which  represents  the 
high  lights  of  the  picture. 

316 


CONQUEST    OF    TIME    AND    SPACE 

At  the  other  end  of  the  circuit  the  picture  is  repro- 
duced on  a  sensitized  paper  wrapped  about  a  cylinder, 
which  is  traversed  spirally  by  a  platinum  point  con- 
nected with  the  electric  circuit.  When  the  current 
is  transmitted,  it  discolors  the  sensitized  paper, 
through  exciting  chemical  action;  when  the  current 
is  broken  the  paper  remains  unchanged.  So  the  net 
result  is  the  tracing  on  the  receiving  drum  of  a  series 
of  dots  or  short  streaks  which  pass  in  a  close  spiral 
about  the  cylinder  and  thus  build  up  the  picture. 

The  fidelity  of  the  reproduction  will  depend  as  be- 
fore on  the  closeness  of  the  spiral  and  the  accuracy 
with  which  the  receiving  drum  corresponds  in  speed 
of  rotation  to  the. transmitting  drum. 

In  practice  the  drums  are  rotated  at  a  speed  of 
about  thirty  revolutions  per  minute,  and  the  appara- 
tus operates  with  such  speed  as  to  record  three 
hundred  sharply  defined  chemical  marks  per  second. 
Accordingly  a  picture  of  considerable  size  may  be 
built  up  by  the  endless  spiral  of  graduated  marks  in 
the  course  of  a  few  minutes.  Stated  otherwise  only 
a  few  minutes  are  required  to  transmit  a  picture  of 
whatever  degree  of  complexity  from  sending  to  re- 
ceiving station,  as  for  example,  from  Paris  to  London. 

Mr.  Baker's  telectograph  system,  which  has  been 
in  practical  operation  between  Paris  and  London  and 
between  Manchester  and  London,  has  additional  in- 
terest in  that  it  can  be  operated  in  connection  with 
a  wireless  apparatus.  As  yet  pictures  have  not  been 
sent  to  a  very  great  distance  by  wireless,  but  Mr. 
Baker  predicts  that  wireless  transmission  of  photo- 
graphs may  eventually  prove  of  more  utility  than  the 

31? 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

other  method,  because  it  would  bring  America  within 
reach  of  Europe  and  would  enable  communication 
to  be  made  where  telephone  or  telegraph  wires  do  not 
exist.  "It  is  not  limited  to  photographs — banking 
signatures,  sketches,  maps,  plans,  and  writing  could 
be  transmitted." 

Mr.  Baker  was  careful  to  point  out,  in  an  address 
on  the  subject  before  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great 
Britain,  that  the  system  of  transmitting  photographs 
by  wireless  is  yet  in  the  very  early  stages ;  he  predicts, 
however,  that  advance  toward  perfection  of  the 
method  will  be  so  rapid  that  what  is  said  about  it  now 
will  within  a  few  years  have  only  a  curious  historical 
interest.  But  even  as  the  matter  stands,  the  wireless 
transmission  of  pictures  may  be  regarded  as  almost 
the  culminating  marvel  of  an  age  of  marvels. 


XI 
OUR    WONDERFUL    GENERATION 

ONE  day  in  September,  1912,  it  was  announced 
that  the  military  maneuvers  of  the  British 
Army  had  come  to  an  abrupt  and  unexpected  ter- 
mination because  they  were  rendered  farcical  by  the 
airmen  scouts.  Secret  maneuvering  was  impossible 
for  either  side. 

A  few  days  later  Count  Zeppelin  sailed  casually 
forth  from  Berlin  in  one  of  his  new  dirigible  balloons 
and  appeared  presently  hovering  over  Copenhagen. 
He  alighted,  paid  a  formal  visit  to  the  authorities, 
and  arose  and  sailed  away.  It  was  a  peaceful  visit, 
yet  the  navigator  had  been  enjoined  not  to  direct  his 
craft  over  any  fortress  or  warship.  But  what  if  the 
visit  had  been  warlike,  the  craft  laden  with  bombs, 
and  the  forts  and  warships  its  chief  object  of  atten- 
tion? 

At  about  the  time  when  these  things  were 
happening  in  Europe,  a  great  body  of  men  of  science 
gathered  in  New  York  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the 
Eighth  International  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry. 
These  are  the  men  whose  labors  link  the  laboratory 
with  the  workshop.  If  the  full  story  of  their  efforts 
of  recent  years  were  told,  there  would  be  revealed 
a  record  of  revolutions  in  half  a  score  of  important 

3*9 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

industries,  involving  tens  of  millions  of  dollars  of  in- 
vested capital. 

Suffice  it  for  the  moment  to  name  among  the  ac- 
complishments of  these  practical  chemists  in  recent 
years:  (1)  the  synthesis  from  coal-tar  products  of 
artificial  dyes,  pigments,  and  perfumes  in  endless 
profusion,  revolutionizing  the  indigo  and  madder  in- 
dustries; (2)  the  manufacture  of  synthetic  pearls 
and  rubies  and  allied  gems,  forecasting  a  readjust- 
ment of  the  profession  of  the  jeweler;  (3)  the  mak- 
ing of  carborundum,  harder  than  any  natural  abra- 
sive but  the  diamond,  and  of  graphite  purer  than  any 
ever  mined;  (4)  the  transformation  of  vegetable 
fibre  into  an  artificial  silk  in  some  respects  outrival- 
ing the  natural,  15,000,000  pounds  of  which  are  now 
annually  put  on  the  market;  (5)  the  taking  of  nitro- 
gen from  the  inexhaustible  storehouse  of  the  air,  to 
form  ammonia  and  nitric  acid,  the  basis  of  number- 
less industrial  compounds,  including  fertilizers  indis- 
pensable to  our  agricultural  fields;  and  (6)  the  very 
recent  synthesis  of  pure  rubber  out  of  starch,  an  ac- 
complishment the  industrial  importance1  of  which 
will  probably  be  manifest  in  the  near  future. 

Scarcely  had  the  papers  ceased  to  chronicle  the 
doings  of  the  Industrial  Chemists  when  they  were 
called  upon  to  record  the  proceedings  of  another 
body  of  practical  scientists,  the  Fifteenth  Interna- 
tional Congress  on  Hygiene  and  Demography,  meet- 
ing in  Washington.  President  Taft  remarked  face- 
tiously, in  an  address  of  welcome,  that  he  had  been 
too  busy  to  learn  the  meaning  of  the  word  demog- 
raphy, but  that  we  all  know  what  hygiene  means 

320 


OUR  WONDERFUL  GENERATION 

and  that  we  are  begining  to  appreciate  its  impor- 
tance. That  the  country  at  large  did  appreciate  the 
importance  of  the  topics  discussed  was  evident  from 
the  space  given  the  proceedings  in  the  daily  press. 
And  the  interest  was  well  merited,  for  the  discussions 
had  to  do  with  such  topics  as  the  prevention  of  dis- 
ease, the  reduction  of  infant  mortality,  the  lessening 
of  insanity,  ami  the  prolongation  of  human  life  in 
general. 

THE   NOBEL  PRIZE  WINNERS 

Such  illustrations  show  why  ours  has  been  termed 
a  practical  age.  But  we  need  not  look  far  afield  to 
discover  that  the  devotees  of  theoretical  science  have 
been  no  less  busy  and  no  less  successful.  On  the 
10th  of  December  each  year  a  little  company  of  men 
assemble  in  Stockholm  to  receive  the  Nobel  prizes 
in  Science,  of  which  everyone  has  heard.  The  an- 
nual prizes  in  Science,  each  carrying  an  honorarium 
of  about  $40,000,  are  awarded  for  notable  achieve- 
ments in  Physics,  Chemistry,  Physiology,  and  Medi- 
cine. With  a  few  notable  exceptions,  the  recipients 
of  these  prizes  have  been  workers  in  pure  science; 
and  the  results  of  their  investigations  constitute  a 
most  remarkable  body  of  new  knowledge. 

The  discoveries  recognized  include  the  X-ray, 
which  founded  an  entirely  irew  department -of  science; 
radium  and  its  allies,  which  founded  another;  the  law 
of  osmosis,  with  its  fundamental  explanation  of  the 
phenomena  of  liquids;  the  ion-chemistry,  which 
carries  us  to  the  very  heart  of  the  atomic  world ;  the 
electron,  or  unit  particle  of  electricity,  which  reveals 

321 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

a  something  1TOO  times  smaller  than  the  hydrogen 
atom;  the  proof  that  light  is  a  form  of  electromag- 
netism;  five  new  gases  in  the  atmosphere;  the  exact 
measurement  of  light-waves,  to  the  millionth  of  an 
inch;  the  proof  that  carbon  can  be  transformed  into 
diamond  in  the  electric  arc;  the  explanation  of  the 
manner  of  brain  cell  activity  that  underlies  the  pro- 
cesses of  thought ;  explanations  of  world-building 
based  on  a  new  theory  of  light-pressure;  and  sundry 
analyses  of  the  chemical  properties  of  living  matter 
that  cannot  be  characterized  in  a  phrase. 

If  to  this  list  of  achievements  in  theoretical  science 
we  add  such  practical  accomplishments  as  the  per- 
fection of  the  wireless  telegraph;  the  development 
of  antitoxin,  tuberculin,  and  the  Finsen  ray;  new 
studies  of  digestive  and  assimilative  processes;  ex- 
planations of  the  mechanism  through  which  the  body 
fights  disease ;  and  the  transplanting  of  living  organs, 
we  shall  gain  at  least  an  inkling  of  the  wide  scope 
of  the  new  knowledge,  as  recognized  by  the  Nobel 
Foundation. 

It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  any  single  gen- 
eration of  the  past  ever  witnessed  such  rapid  prog- 
ress in  so  many  fields  of  knowledge  or  the  develop- 
ment of  so  many  brand-new  ideas  in  theoretical 
science  as  have  come  to  light  in  this  age. 

SEVEN  WONDERS  OF  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Let  me  cite  now  another  illustration  of  the  re- 
markable character  of  present-day  achievements. 
Every  one  has  heard  of  the  seven  wonders  of  antiq- 
uity, and  most  readers  will  recall  that  the  pyramids 

322 


OUR  WONDERFUL  GENERATION 

of  Egypt,  the  hanging  gardens  of  Babylon,  the  tem- 
ple of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  and  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes 
were  among  them.  The  others  were  the  Pharos  of 
Alexandria,  which  was  a  light  house  400  feet  high, 
the  statue  of  Jupiter  by  Phidias  in  the  Parthenon  at 
Athens,  and  the  mausoleum  of  Artemesia.  All  of 
these  so-called  wonders,  then,  were  examples  of  en- 
gineering or  architectural  skill  or  of  art  on  a  colossal 
scale. 

In  our  day  gigantic  engineering  and  architectural 
enterprises  have  become  so  common  that  their  re- 
sults have  for  the  most  part  ceased  to  cause  wonder. 
In  other  directions,  however,  the  scientific  workers 
of  our  time  have  produced  results  which  excite  the 
astonishment  even  of  the  initiated,  and  many  of 
which  are  brought  constantly  to  the  attention  of  the 
man  in  the  street  as  well.  The  publishers  of  "Pop- 
ular Mechanics"  recently  desired  to  ascertain  which 
among  modern  achievements  are  best  entitled,  in  the 
opinion  of  experts,  to  rank  as  the  seven  most  remark- 
able of  present-day  wonders.  Therefore,  they  made 
out  a  list  including  56  discoveries  or  inventions  of 
modern  times,  all  of  which  might  properly  be  de- 
scribed as  wonderful.  The  list  was  comprehensive  in 
its  scope,  including  the  results  of  great  engineering 
efforts  such*  as  the  Simplon  Tunnel,  the  -Catskill 
Aqueduct,  Subway  Transportation,  and  the  Panama  ! 
Canal  at  one  end  of  the  scale,  and  such  achievements 
of  theoretical  science  as  have  to  do  with  ultra-violet 
rays,  the  ultra-microscope,  and  synthetic  chemistry 
at  the  other. 

This  comprehensive  list  of  modern  achievements 

323 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

was  sent  out  to  1000  eminent  men  in  Europe  ana 
America,  including  members  of  the  French  Academy 
of  Science,  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  the  great 
German  Universities,  the  American  Academy  of 
Science,  and  various  famous  men  of  science  in  private 
life.  The  request  was  made  that  each  would  mark 
off  on  the  list  of  56  subjects  the  seven  that  seemed 
to  him  to  represent  the  most  wonderful  modern 
achievements.  It  is  reported  that  about  700  of  the 
scientists  responded.  The  result  of  their  balloting 
is  not  definitive,  of  course,  but  it  has  obvious  interest. 
It  presents  seven  modern  wonders  in  the  following 
order:  (1)  the  wireless  telegraph;  (2)  the  telephone; 
(3)  the  aeroplane;  (4)  radium;  (5)  antiseptics  and 
antitoxins;  (6)  spectrum  analysis;  (7)  the  X-Ray. 
The  three  next  most  popular  "wonders,"  making  up 
a  total  list  of  ten,  were  in  succession,  (8)  the  Panama 
Canal,  (9)  anaesthesia,  and  (10)  synthetic  chem- 
istry. The  last  named  of  these  may  fairly  be  con- 
sidered too  vague  and  general  a  subject  to  be  rightly 
listed  with  the  other  specific  achievements. 

Of  the  seven  chief  "wonders,"  all  but  one  are  en- 
tirely famiHar  to  the  general  public  as  to  their  main 
developments.  The  exception  is  spectrum  analysis, 
which  is  less  familiar  partly,  perhaps,  for  the  rather 
paradoxical  reason  that  it  has  been  longest  in  evi- 
dence. The  first  efforts  at  spectrum  analysis  were 
made  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  the  spectroscope  was  applied  to  the  analysis  of 
the  composition  of  stars  about  fifty  years  ago.  The 
perfected  instrument,  however,  is  of  much  more  re- 
cent development,  and  its  feat  of  measuring  the  flight 

324 


OUR  WONDERFUL  GENERATION 

of  stars  and  testing  their  chemical  composition  has 
failed  to  attract  wide  popular  interest  chiefly  because 
it  deals  with  subjects  so  remote  from  every-day  life. 

Of  the  remaining  six  modern  wonders,  the  tele- 
phone dates  from  about  the  year  1876,  and  the  initial 
use  of  antiseptics  is  but  a  few  years  older.  Wireless 
telegraphy,  the  aeroplane,  radium,  the  anti-toxins, 
and  the  X-Ray  have  all  seen  their  entire  development 
since  1895.  No  doubt  their  extreme  newness  ac- 
counts in  part  for  their  selection,  for  of  course  things 
seem  wonderful  somewhat  in  proportion  as  they  are 
novel;  but  on  the  other  hand  we  can  hardly  doubt 
that  each  of  these  strictly  up-to-date  discoveries 
and  mechanisms  will  continue  to  hold  high  rank 
among  the  things  accounted  extraordinary  in  coming 
generations. 

That  such  a  list  can  be  presented  of  achievements 
of  any  given  generation  is  altogether  remarkable. 
No  one  who  considers  this  aspect  of  the  subject  can 
doubt  that  our  age  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
in  all  history.  To  the  American  it  must  be  gratifying 
to  observe  that  the  second  and  third  among  the 
"wonders"  selected  by  this  international  jury  (the 
telephone  and  the  aeroplane  namely)  were  invented 
on  this  side  of  the  water.  Moreover,  if  the  list  is 
extended  to  include  nine  subjects,  two  more  Ameri- 
can achievements  are  included,  the  Panama  Canal 
and  anaethesia. 

ACHIEVING  THE  IMPOSSIBLE 

There  is  yet  another  list  of  remarkable  recent 
achievements  that  I  wish  to  cite,  because  it  takes 

325 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

note  of  some  accomplishments  that  are  not  named  in 
any  of  the  lists  already  given.  The  German  publica- 
tion "Prometheus"  celebrated  its  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary in  1912,  and  the  editor,  Professor  Witt,  was 
led  to  comment  on  the  changes  in  the  world  of 
science  that  have  taken  place  in  the  quarter  century 
since  the  journal  was  founded.  He  pointed  out  that 
a  number  of  the  chief  quests  of  the  workers  of 
twenty-five  years  ago,  which  then  seemed  almost 
hopeless  of  solution,  have  been  triumphantly  achiev- 
ed. 

As  cases  in  point  he  named  the  following:  (1)  the 
dirigible  balloon,  (2)  the  aeroplane,  (3)  the  sub- 
marine boat,  (4)  the  attainment  of  the  North  Pole 
(had  he  written  a  few  months  later,  he  might  have 
included  the  South  Pole  also)  and  the  absolute  zero 
of  temperature,  the  latter  approached  within  a  little 
over  one  degree,  (5)  wireless  telegraphy,  (6)  the 
transmission  of  photographs  by  wire,  and  (7)  color 
photography.  It  is  curious  to  note  that  of  the  seven 
"wonders"  named  here,  only  two  duplicate  citations 
of  the  other  list, — so  wide  is  the  opportunity  for 
selection. 

THE  NEW  ERA 

Were  we  now  to  collate  the  diverse  summaries, 
making  allowance  for  duplications,  we  should  find  in 
the  various  lists  cited  more  than  thirty  very  notable 
scientific  achievements  any  one  of  which  by  itself 
would  give  a  certain  distinction  to  an  epoch.  It  has 
been  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  give  some  details 
regarding  the  development  of  many — but  by  no 

326 


OUR  WONDERFUL  GENERATION 

means  all — of  the  remarkable  achievements  here  list- 
ed. They  are  recapitulated  here  in  epitome  chiefly 
by  way  of  summary,  but  also  to  name  a  few  accom- 
plishments that  for  one  reason  or  another  have  not 
fallen  within  the  scope  of  our  present  inquiry. 

And  now,  in  concluding  a  summary  which  explic- 
itly disclaims  any  attempt  at  completeness,  I  perhaps 
cannot  do  better  than  to  apply  to  the  foregoing  pages 
the  words  with  which  I  closed  a  chapter  in  a  volume 
of  my  work  on  The  Wonders  of  Science  in  Modern 
Life,  of  which  chapter  the  present  volume  might  be 
said  to  be  an  amplification.  I  make  the  quotation 
with  slight  adaptations  to  apply  to  the  volume  in 
hand: 

"Let  it  be  noted  that  the  most  ancient  of  the  dis- 
coveries with  which  we  have  dealt  date  from  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. In  other  words,  the  period  involved  is  only 
about  eighteen  years.  Indeed  the  great  body  of  rev- 
olutionary accomplishments  in  question  were  brought 
to  light  within  the  space  of  the  single  decade  1895- 
1904.  It  is  startling  to  reflect  on  the  number  of  new 
ideas  that  were  added  to  the  sum  total  of  human 
knowledge  in  that  period. 

"Let  us  recall,  by  way  of  illustration,  that  two  of 
the  most  learned  and  most  versatile  men  of  science  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  John  Tyndall  and  Thomas 
Henry  Huxley,  died  respectively  in  1893  and  1895. 
The  time  is  so  recent  that  the  names  of  these  men 
have  not  ceased  to  be  household  words.  Yet  if  these 
two  men,  whose  joint  knowledge  covered  every  field 
of  physical  and  biological  science,  could  come  back 

327 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 

to  us  to-day  they  would  find  themselves  unable  to 
comprehend  the  very  phraseology  in  which  even  a 
rudimentary  lesson  in  science  might  be  given  in  a 
college  classroom. 

"Such  words  as  X-Ray,  radium,  radioactivity,  elec- 
tron, Zeeman  effect,  Mendelism,  serum-therapy,  sal- 
varsan,  Finsen  ray,  argon,  krypton,  neon,  aeroplane, 
radiograph,  ultra-microscope,  and  the  like  would 
have  for  them  absolutely  no  meaning.  They  would 
have  but  vague  notions  as  to  what  dirigible  balloons 
might  be  like.  Diesel  engines,  vaccine  therapy,  the 
meteoritic  hypothesis,  carborundum,  the  side-chain 
theory,  anaphylaxis,  unit  characters,  dominant  and 
recessive  traits,  eugenics, — all  these  would  be  un- 
meaning terms,  or  terms  quite  lacking  their  present- 
day  significance.  The  entire  coterie  of  new  sciences 
associated  with  these  words — supplemented  in  each 
case  by  a  more  or  less  elaborate  terminology  of  allied 
words— has  sprung  into  being  in  the  brief  interval 
that  has  elapsed  since  these  great  expositors  of  nine- 
teenth century  science  died. 

"In  no  other  way,  perhaps,  could  we  make  more 
vividly  manifest  the  extraordinary  progress  of  our 
new  era  than  by  reflecting  on  the  great  variety  of 
subjects,  now  matters  of  common  knowledge,  about 
which  Huxley  and  Tyndall  knew  nothing." 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Professor  C.  G.,  uses  the  Anopheles,    mosquitoes     of     this 

bolometer     and     other     instru-  genus  transmit  malaria,  249. 

ments    to    determine    the    solar  Anti-bodies,  their  development  and 

constant,  108.  use    in    fighting    diseases,    211; 

Aeroplane,  time  it  would  require  their  presence  demonstrated  by 

to  explore  the  solar  system,  30;  the  action   of   the  white   blood 

invented  by  the   Wright  Bros.,  corpuscles,   214. 

297;    record  flights,   300;   prac-  Antidotes  to  the  bacterial  poisons 

tical  uses,  303 ;  as  an  instrument  as  supplied  by  nature,  211 ;  the 

of  war,  304.  prodigal  supply  of,  212. 

Agglutinins,     their     development,  Antitoxins,  their  development  and 

211.  use,  211. 

Airship,  stabilized  by  gyroscopes,  Anti-typhoid  vaccine,  developed  by 

274.  Sir   Almroth    Wright,    209;    its 

Alchemy,    the    new,    122.  use  made  obligatory  in  the  U.  S. 

Algol,    a    famous    variable    star,  Army,  251. 

shown  by  Vogel  to  be  a  spec-  Arrhenius,  Svante,  his  theory  of 
troscopic  binary,  96 ;  its  interest- 
ing changes  visible  to  the  naked 
eye,  99. 

Alpha  Centauri,  our  nearest  star 
neighbor,  42;  is  26,000,000,000,- 
000,000  miles  distant,  46;  if  it 
had  planetary  attendants  they 

would  be  invisible,  91;  is  a  bi-  Atom,  exploring  the,  Chapter  IV, 

nary  star,  93.  101 

Alpha  ray,   consists  of  atoms  of  A           fc        h                        d  m 

helium  carrying  a  double  charge  ^    size    ^    number    ^ 


the  origin  of  nebulae,  21;  his 
ion  theory,  102;  estimates  the 
size  of  a  particle  that  will  be 
driven  before  the  light  waves, 
112  ;  explains  the  tails  of  comets, 
the  sun's  corona,  and  the  aurora 
borealis,  112. 


of      positive     electricity,      113 ; 

shows    transformation    of    one 

element  into  another,  114;  how 

it  affects  the  blood,  238. 
Anaemia,  pernicious,  treated  with 

Thorium  X,  236. 
Anaphylaxis,    explained    by    side-    Au/^__,bo/eahsj^_e^la^!i:<:^ 

chain  theory,  228. 
Andromeda,  the  large  nebula  in,  7. 
Animal  tissues,  grown  outside  the 


mined,  117;  the  number  in  a 
cubic  centimeter,  119  ;  photo- 
graphed by  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson, 
120;  their  structure,  according 
to  the  electron  theory,  130. 


Arrhenius  as  due  to  electrified 
particles  driven  from  the  sun, 
112. 

body  by  Drs.  "Harrison,  Carrel,   Automobile,  statistics  as  to  its  de- 
and  Burrows,  165.  velopment,  285. 

22  329 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 


Bacteria,  as  combatted  by  the  vac- 
cine treatment,  208;  the  possi- 
bility o'f  their  extermination, 
221 ;  distroyed  by  the  ultraviolet 
ray,  240. 

Bactericides,  their  development 
and  use,  211. 

Bacteriolysins,  their  development 
and  use,  211. 

Baker,  Mr.  T.  Thome,  invents  an 
instrument  for  sending  pictures 
by  wire  and  by  wireless,  316. 

Ballon,  the  dirigible,  288;  as  an 
instrument  of  war,  294. 

Bancroft,  Mr.  F.  W.,  experiments 
in  conjunction  with  Prof.  Loeb 
to  produce  mutants  by  heat,  185. 

Banishing  the  plagues,  Chapter 
VIII,  222. 

Battleships,  equipped  with  Sperry 
gyro-compass,  265. 

Becquerel,  Henri,  discovers  ura- 
nium, the  first  known  radio- 
active substance,  113. 

Becquerel,  Jean,  likens  electrons 
to  a  swarn  of  gnats,  130. 

Bessemer,  Sir  Henry,  attempted  to 
stabilize  a  room  aboard  ship 
with  the  gyroscope,  266. 

Beta  Lyrae,  an  interesting  double 
star  having  30  times  the  mass 
of  our  sun,  100. 

Beta  ray,  indentical  with  the 
cathode  ray,  114. 

Bickel,  Prof.  A.,  uses  Thorium 
X  in  treatment  of  pernicious 
anaemia,  236. 

Biffin,  Prof.  R.  R,  develops  a 
variety  of  wheat  immune  to 
rust,  along  Mendelian  lines,  198. 

"Black  death,"  or  plague,  dis- 
seminated by  the  rat,  249. 

Blindness,  partially  restored  by  a 
Paris  surgeon  through  trans- 
plantation of  a  piece  of  cornea, 
168. 

Blood  corpuscles,  white,  aided  by 
opsonins  in  their  battle  with  dis- 
ease germs,  215. 


Blood  relationship,  how  traced  by 
Professor  Nuttall,  158. 

Blood  tests,  how  the  fluids  for 
making  the  tests  are  developed, 
161. 

Bolometer,  a  heat-measuring  in- 
strument invented  by  Professor 
Langley,  107;  enables  the  ob- 
server to  measure  the  energy 
beyond  the  visible  spectrum,  108. 

Boss,  Professor  Lewis,  studied  a 
flying  group  of  stars  of  the 
Taurus  cluster,  55. 

Bouguer,  the  French  commission 
under  him  attempted  to  weigh 
the  earth  with  a  pendulum,  61. 

Boys,  Professor  C.  V.,  tested  the 
mass  of  the  earth  by  the  Cav- 
endish method,  64. 

Branley,  Prof.,  showed  that  a 
metallic  powder  can  be  used  to 
detect  electric  waves,  308. 

Braun,  Prof.  Ferdinand,  in  con- 
junction with  Marconi,  receives 
Nobel  prize  for  work  on  wire- 
less telegraph,  305. 

Brennan,  Mr.  Louis,  invents  a 
monorail  car  stabilized  with  the 
gyroscope,  271. 

Brucker,  Jos.,  designs  an  airship 
to  cross  the  ocean,  289. 

Burbank,  Mr.  Luther,  his  experi- 
ments in  plant  breeding,  186; 
his  experiments  support  the 
Darwinian  doctrine,  190. 

Burke,  Mr.  John  Butler,  attempts 
to  generate  life  in  the  test  tube 
with  radium,  238. 

Burrows,  Dr.  Montrose  T.,  his 
experiments  in  growing  living 
tissues  outside  the  body,  in 
association  with  Dr.  Carrel,  165. 

Campbell^  Professor  W.  W.,  tests 
the  radial  speed  of  many  stars 
with  the  spectrograph,  47;  de- 
termines that  old  stars  move  on 
the  average  more  rapidly  than 
young  ones,  48;  shows  that 
stars  of  like  age  with  our  sun 


330 


INDEX 


are    on    the   average    relatively  Crookes,    Sir    William,    invented 

near,  54.  .  the  radiometer,  109;  his  inven- 

Canal  rays,  first  observed  by  tion  of  the  sphinthariscope,  118 ; 

Goldstein;  tested  by  Sir  Joseph  suggested  the  use  of  metal  fil- 

Thomson,  121.  ings  in  wireless  telegraphy,  308. 

Cancer,  the  quest  of  a  cure,  230.  Curie,  Madame,  with  Professor 

Cannon,  Dr.  G.,  studies  of  in-  Curie,  discovered  radium,  113. 

heritance    of    the    insane    with  Curie,     Professor     Pierre,     with 

Dr.  Rosanoff,  206.  Madam  Curie,  discovered  ra- 

Carnegie,  the,  a  non-magnetic  dium,  113. 

ship,  256.  Curtiss,  Mr.  Glenn  H.,  prominent 

Carrel,  Dr.  Alexis,  his  method  of  in  developing  the  hydroaero- 

restoring     amputated    members  plane,  302. 

and    transplanting    internal    or-  Cuvier,  Georges,  his  classification 

gans,    155 ;    his   experiments    in  of  the  invertebrates,  132. 

growing  animal  tissues  outside  Daimler,  Herr  G.,  perfects  the  oil 

the  body  in  association  with  Dr.  motor,  285. 

Burrows,  165.  Darwin,  Charles,  his  explanation 

Castle,  Professor  William  E.,  his  of  the  purpose  of  flowers,  142; 

experiments     in     transplanting 


m 

ovaries,    156;    his    experiments 
with  guinea  pigs,  196. 

Cattle  plague,  a  new  remedy  for, 
244;    transmitted   by   ticks,   245. 

Cavendish,  his  method  of  weigh- 
ing the  earth,  63. 


his  main  doctrine  is  to-day  un- 
challenged, 181;  his  theories  of 
heredity,  virtually  proved  *by 
Mr.  Burbank*s  experiments,  189 ; 
his  doctrine,  its  meaning  and 
present  status,  178. 

ing  ineearai    oa.  Davenport,    Prof.    Chas.    B.,    his 

Chamberhn,  Professor  T.  C  de-  studieg  f  heredit  199  his 
velops  new  theory  of  world  on-  studies  Q£  heritabl/  defects 
gins,  8.  20o 

Chambers,    Dr.   -Helen,    tests    the  '        . 

effect  of  radium  on  the  blood,   Deaf  mutism,  as  studied  by  Fay, 
237.  205- 

Chanute,  Mr.  O'ctave,  a  pioneer  in   Deafness,  congenital,  its  heritable 

soaring,   302.  character,   105. 

Collie,     Professor    Norman,    ob-   De  Forest,  Dr.  Lee,  developed  the 
serves    the    seeming    formation       wireless  telephone,  310. 
of  helium  and  neon  in  the  lab-    Dewar)    professor    James,    meas- 
oratory,  122.  ures  tjje  quantity  of  helium  gas 

from   a   given   quantity   of   ra- 
dium emanation,  116. 
Diesel,    Dr.    Rudolph,    invents    a 
new    type    of    oil    motor,    280; 
predictions  as  to  solution  of  the 
fuel  problem  by  his  engine,  281 ; 
cheapness   of   operation   of   his 
engine,  282. 
Diesel   Engine,   its   invention,  op- 


Comet,  the  tail  of,  explained  by 
Professor  Arrhenius  as  due  to 
light  pressure,  112. 

Compass,  magnetic,  operation  of, 
255;  defects  of,  256;  non-mag- 
netic, 257. 

Conquest  of  time  and  space,  the, 
Chapter  X,  279. 

Corpuscle,  electric,  see  electron. 

Creation  of  species,  the,  Chapter 
VI,  170.. 


eration,    and    probable    future, 
280. 


331 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 


Dirigible  balloon,  the,  288.  Electron,    or    electric    corpuscle, 

Dominant  characters  explained  in       the  smallest  thing  in  the  world, 


the  Mendelian  sense,  193. 

Double  stars,  their  periods  of  rev- 
olution, 95. 

Driesch,  Professor  Hans,  his  ex- 
periments with  the  eggs  of  fish, 


discovered  by  Sir  J.  J.  Thom- 
son, 126;  in  the  cathode  ray, 
the  constituent  of  the  beta  ray, 
and  liberated  in  a  gas  subjected 
to  the  X-ray  or  to  radio-action, 
127;  its  infinite  littleness,  129; 
sets  up  waves  in  the  ether  that 
produce  the  phenomena  of  ra- 
diant energy,  133 ;  how  electrons 
are  counted,  127. 

Electroscope,  its  tests  are  500,000 
times  more  delicate  than  the 
finest  tests  of  the  spectroscope, 
115;  detects  a  single  alpha  par- 
ticle, 116. 

origin,  8;  its  actual  motion  in    Energy,  radiant,  measured  by  the 
space,  39;  testing  its  mass  with       radiometer,  109. 
a  pendulum,  61;  the  Cavendish    Eros,  measurement  of  its  parallax 
method  of  testing  its  mass,  63;        furnishes  one  of  the  most  ac- 
Professor    Boys'    determination       curate  methods  of  determining 
of     its     mass,     64;     Professor        the  sun's  distance,  77,  80. 
Poynting's  determination  of  its    Ether,     the     all-pervading,     131; 
mass  with  the  balance,  65 ;   its       newest  theories  as  to  its  nature, 


146. 
Dumont,   M.   Santos,  the  first  to 

demonstrate    the    feasibility    of 

directing  the  flight  of  a  balloon, 

288. 
Duyne,  Dr.  Van,  his  experiments 

in  growing  hydra-headed  plan- 

arians,  152. 
Earth,  the  new  explanation  of  its 


average  mass  about  5^  times 
that  of  an  equal  globe  of  water, 
66;  oscillates  in  common  with 
the  moon  about  a  center  some 
2,880  miles  from  its  geometri- 
cal center,  68. 


134;  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson's  esti- 
mate of  its  density,  135 ;  Profes- 
sor Osborne  Reynolds'  theory 
of  its  nature,  136;  invoked  in 
explanation  of  gravitation  by 
Professor  Reynolds,  139. 


Edison,  Mr.  Thos.  A.,  sent  wire-   Eugenics,  the  Galton  Institute  of, 
less   messages    from    a   moving       199. 


Eugenics,  the  new  science  chris- 
tened by  Francis  Galton,  200 ;  as 
studied  by  Professor  Davenport, 
202;  some  practical  rules  con- 
cerning, 204;  its  future  applica- 

„  tion,  207. 

velop   by   Professor  Loeb,   143.    ,_       .        ~  .  . 

L^JL  T/__r T>_I  1^-1.^  Evening  Primrose,  how  used  by 

Prof,  de  Vries  to  develop  his 
mutation  theory,  183. 


train  in  1887,  307. 

Eddington,  Professor  A.  S.,  his 
estimate  of  the  accuracy  of 
parallax  determinations,  45. 

Eggs,  unfertilized,  caused  to  de- 


Ehrlich,  Professor  Paul,  his  tenta- 
tive cure   for   cancer,   167;   his 

personality,   222;    his   discovery  ~     ,     .        ., 

of  Salvarsan,  223 ;  discovers  new  Evolution   through   natural   selec- 

types  of  white  blood  corpuscles,  tlon'  178' 

225 ;    his    side-chain    theory    of  Exploring  the  atom,  Chapter    IV, 

immunity,  225 ;  develops  a  tenta-  101« 

tive  remedy   for   sleeping  sick-  Eye,    the   human,    in    inheritance, 

ness,    230;    investigates    cancer  as  illustrating  Mendelian  prin- 

in  mice,  231.  ciples,  201. 

332 


INDEX 

Farman,  Mr.  Henry,  an  early  fol-  Gorgas,  Col.  W.  C.,  makes  the 

lower  of  the  Wrights  in  flying,  Panama  Canal  Zone  salubrious, 

302.  247. 

Fay,  his  studies  of  deaf  mutism,  Guinea  pigs,  used  by  Prof.  Castle 

205.  to    show     Mendelian    heredity, 
Finlay,    Dr.    Chas.    J.,    advanced  196. 

theory  that  the  mosquito  trans-  Gyroscope,  how  its  action  may  ex- 

mits  yellow  fever,  249.  plain  the  position  of  planetary 

Finsen,    Dr.    N.    R.,   treats   lupus  axes,  13;  its  feats  of  balancing 

with  the  ultraviolet  ray,  240.  outlined,    258;    how    it    works, 
Finsen  Ray,  its  use  in  destroying  257 ;  used  by  Foucault  to  demon- 
bacteria,  240.  strate  the  earth's  motion,  261; 
Fish,   the   eggs   of,   experimented  attempts  to  use  it  as  a  balancer, 

with  by   Dr.  Driesch;   a  single  262;  used  to  steady  ships  at  sea, 

egg  caused  to  produce  four  in-  266;  as  a  stabilizer  of  land  ve- 

dividuals,  147.  hides,  271 ;  to  stabilize  the  aero- 
Flea,  the  agent  of  transmission  of  plane,  274. 

the  plague,  249.  Gyroscope  compass,  262 ;  the  prin- 

Flowers,  why  they  have  scent  and  ciple   on  which   it   works,   263 ; 

color,  142.  perfected    by    Mr.    Sperry    and 

Fly,    the    common    house,    as    an  installed  on  battleships,  265. 

agent    in    transmitting    disease,  Hale,    Professor    George    E.,    his 

251.  spectroheliograph,  37;  discovers 

Flying  machine,  the  true,  294.  Zeeman  effect  in  the  light  from 

Fournier  d'Albe,  Dr.,  makes  light  the    sun    spots,    105;     explains 

audible  with  his  optophone,  311.  tentatively  the  relation  between 

Fowl,  the  barnyard,  used  by  Prof.  terrestrial    magnetism    and    sun 

Punnett  to  show  Mendelian  he-  spots,  105. 

redity,  197.  H  alley,   suggested  the  transit-of- 

Frog,  its  eggs  caused  to  develop  Venus  method  of  measuring  the 

without  fertilization,  145.  sun's  parallax,  74. 

Gager,  Prof.  C.  S.,  treats  the  pol-  Hammer,  Mr.  Wm.  J.,  illustrates 

len  of  plants  with  radium,  185.  curious  properties  of  selenium, 

Galton  Institute  of  Eugenics,  199.  313. 

Gamma  ray,  a  type  of  X-ray,  114.  Harrison,  Dr.  R.   S.,  the  first  to 

Gas   or   oil   engine,   developed  by  prove  the  feasibility  of  growing 

Otto  and  Daimler,  281 ;  a  new  tissues  outside  the  body,  165. 

type  developed  by  Diesel,  280.  ,H<askine,  his  hint  about  preventive 

Germicide,  light  as  a,  239.  inoculation,  209. 

Giants,  a  possible  explanation  of  Helium,  found  by  spectroscope  in 

their  origin,  149.  the  stars,  23;  its  atom,  charged 

Gill,  Sir  Davi4,  began  an  elaborate  with  positive  electricity,   is  the 

spectrographic    investigation    to  alpha    particle,    114;    seemingly 

determine  the  solar  parallax,  80.  formed  in  the  laboratory  in  an 

Goddard,    Dr.    H.   H.,   studies   of  electric  bulb,  123. 

heredity   of   the   feeble-minded,  Herbst,     Professor,     grows     new 

206.  eyes  on  crustaceans,  153. 
Goldstein,  first  observed  the  canal  Heredity,  Mendelian,  190 ;  and  the 

rays,  121.  human  race,  199;  and  Eugenics, 

333 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 


202;  as  applied  to  the  marriage 
of  defectives,  203. 

Hertz,  his  studies  of  electro-mag- 
netic waves  prepared  the  way 
for  the  wireless  telegraph,  306. 

Hewitt,  Mr.  Peter  Cooper,  his 
quartz  lamp  as  a  sterilizer,  243. 

Hinks,  Professor  A.  R.,  made  ela- 
borate mathematical  calculations 
of  the  solar  parallax  based  on 
photographs  of  the  planetoid 
Eros,  taken  at  twelve  observa- 
tories, 80. 

Hoff,  S.  S.,  completed  Eir  David 
Gill's  studies  of  spectrograms 
testing  the  sun's  parallax,  79. 

Hoffman,  with  Schandinn,  the 
discoverer  of  the  germ  of  syph- 
ilis, 234. 

Holmes,  Professor  S.  J.,  produces 
many  planarians  by  cutting  an 
individual  into  pieces,  151. 

Holland,  Mr.  John  P.,  developer 
of  the  sub-marine  vessel,  287. 

Huggins,  Sir  Wm.,  used  the 
spectroscope  in  star  tests  in 
1863,  33. 

Hull,  Professor  G.  F.,  invents 
a  radiometer  jointly  with  E.  F. 
Nichols  and  uses  it  to  test  light 
pressure,  109. 

Hydroaeroplane,  first  used  by  M. 
Fabre,  in  France;  developed  by 
Mr.  Glenn  H.  Curtis,  302. 

Hydrogen,  found  by  spectroscope 
in  the  stars,  23. 

Immunity  to  disease,  how  ex- 
plained, 210;  explained  by  the 


ex- 


Ion,  the  theory  of,  as  put  forward 
by  Arrhenius,  102;  their  migra- 
tion first  measured  by  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge,  102. 

Juggling  with  life,  Chapter  V, 
142. 

Jupiter,  its  liquid  or  gaseous  state, 
10;  its  new  moons  discovered 
by  Perrine,  13 ;  its  density  about 
1.33  that  of  water,  84;  would 
require  more  than  317  globes 
like  ours  to  balance  its  weight, 
84 ;  its  thermal  effect  measured 
by  Professor  Nichols,  111. 

Kapteyn,  Professor  J.  C,  his 
photographic  charts,  42;  his 
photographic  method  of  measur- 
ing a  star's  parallax,  45 ;  his  esti- 
mate of  the  relative  brightness 
of  stars,  53 ;  discovers  that  stars 
in  our  neighborhood  are  moving 
in  two  gigantic  streams,  56. 

Keeler,  Professor  J.  E.,  studies 
flie  nebulae,  5;  his  studies  of 
nebulae  contradict  nebular  hy- 
pothesis, 7. 

Kidney,  of  a  cat  or  dog,  trans- 
planted by  Dr.  Carrel,  157. 

King,  Dr.  A.  F.  A.,  suggested  that 
the  mosquito  transmits  malaria, 
248. 

Kober,  Dr.  Geo.  M.,  estimates  the 
monetary  loss  from  typhoid  fe- 
ver, 214. 

Koch,  Dr.  Robt,  his  discovery  of 
tuberculin,  216;  heads  a  commis- 
sion to  study  sleeping  sickness, 
244. 

Korn,  Prof.,  invents  apparatus  for 


Vaccine 
orv 


t 


£?*>"•   ™''   his  telautograph, 

Insanity,   its  inheritable   features,  Lake,  Mr.  Simon,  developer  of  the 

206.  even    keel      submarine    vessel, 

Ihvertebrates,  named  by  Lamarck  287- 

and    classified    by    Cuvier  ;    the  Lamarck,  Jean  Baptiste,  originated 

newer  view  of  their  relation  to  the  terms  vertebrate  and  inver- 

vertebrates,  172.  tebrate,  171. 

334 


INDEX 


Land  vehicles,  stabilized  by  the 
gyroscope,  271. 

Langley,  Professor  Samuel  W., 
invents  the  bolometer,  an  in- 
strument that  measures  the  one- 
hundred-millionth  of  a  degree 
of  temperature,  107;  charts  the 
infra-red  region  of  invisible 
light  with  the  bolometer,  108; 
experiments  in  flying,  295 ;  his 
successful  model  "aerodrome," 
296. 

Laplace,  and  the  nebular  hypoth- 
esis, 7. 

Lazear,  Dr.,  lost  his  life  demon- 
strating that  the  mosquito  trans- 
mits yellow  fever,  249. 

Lebedew,  Professor,  measured  the 
pressure  of  light  simultaneously 
with  Nichols  and  Hull  but  in- 
dependently, 110. 

Life,  juggling  with,  Chapter  V, 
142. 

Light,  beyond  the  visible  spectrum, 
106;  the  pressure  of,  measured 


individual,  149;  his  experiments 
with  planarians,  growing  new 
heads  and  bodies,  151,  152;  in 
association  with  Mr.  F.  W. 
Bancroft,  experiments  to  pro- 
duce mutants  by  heat,  185. 

Loeb,  Dr.  'Leo,  made  tentative 
experiments  in  the  cultivation 
of  tissues  outside  the  body,  165 ; 
his  attempt  to  develop  a  cancer 
cure,  231. 

Lowell,  Professor  Percival,  thinks 
the  lines  of  Mars  prove  that  it 
is  inhabited,  87. 

Lupus,  treated  by  Finsen  with 
ultraviolet  ray,  240. 

MacDougal,  Dr.  D.  T.,  produces 
mutations  by  chemical  treat- 
ment of  the  ovaries,  185. 

Mackenzie,  Professor  John,  his 
presentation  of  Reynolds'  theory 
of  the  ether,  136;  his  experi- 
ments with  a  bag  of  sand  to  ilr 
lustrate  the  new  theory  of  grav- 
itation, 139. 


by  Professors  E.  F.  Nichols  and  Magnetic  compass,  defects  of,  256. 

G.  F.  Hull,  109;  the  wave  the-  Magnetism,  terrestrial,  influenced 

ory    of,    challenged    in    recent  by  sun  spots,  105. 

years,  133 ;  as  a  germicide,  239 ;  Malaria,      transmitted      only     by 

made  audible  by  the  optophone,  mosquito   of   genus   Anopheles, 

311.  249. 

Light-pressure,  as  explaining  the  Mammals,  the  relationship  of  dif- 


origin  of  nebulae,  21 ;  as  in- 
fluencing the  movement  of 
nascent  stars,  51;  measured  by 
Lebedew  and  by  Nichols  and 
Hull,  109. 

Lodge,  Sir  Oliver,  perfected  a 
coherer  to  detect  electric  waves, 
308. 


ferent  tribes  traced  by  the 
blood-test  method,  164. 
Man,  his  relationship  with  the 
lower  animals  traced  by  Dr. 
Nuttall's  blood-test  method,  163 ; 
his  invertebrate  ancestors,  ac- 
cording to  Professor  Patten, 
173. 


Loeb,  Professor  Jacques,  his  ex-    Marconi,  Signer  G.,  in  conjunction 


periments  in  the  development 
of  unfertilized  eggs  of  the  sea 
urchin,  and  of  the  frog,  143; 
develops  two  individuals  from  a 
single  sea  urchin  embryo,  147; 
develops  two  organisms  joined 
together  by  a  bridge  of  tissue, 
148 ;  fuses  two  or  more  eggs  of 
the  star  fish  to  form  a  single 


with  Professor  Braun,  receives 
Nobel  prize  for  perfection  of 
wireless  telegraph,  305;  per- 
fected the  coherer  and  made 
practical  demonstrations  of 
wireless  telegraphy,  309. 
Mariaschein,  of  Bohemia,  made 
accurate  tests  of  the  mass  of 
the  earth,  65. 


335 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 


Mars,  measurement  of  its  parallax    Mitchell,    The    Rev.    John,    con- 
a   valuable    aid    in    determining       structed  an  apparatus  for  weigh- 
the     sun's     distance,     76;     its       ing  the  world,  63. 
average   density  3.95,   or   about    Microbes  and  vaccines,  208. 
7/10  that  of  the  earth,  84;   its    Milk,    an    attempt    to    sterilize    it 

with  the  ultraviolet  ray,  242 ;  its 
pasteurization,  242. 
Milky  Way,  its  stars  are  exceed- 
ingly remote  and  are  not  part 
of  the  main  star  streams  dis- 
covered by  Professor  Kapteyn 
and  Mr.  Plummer,  57;  its  stars 
mostly  too  faint  to  be  tested 
accurately  with  the  spectroscope, 
57;  an  optical  illusion  makes  it 
seem  like  a  coil  of  stars  wound 
about  our  lensshaped  universe, 
58. 

of    Millikan,    Professor    R.    A.,    his 
isolation  of  an  individual  elec- 
tron, 128. 
Miracles,  scientific,  performed  by 

men  of  science,  1. 
Missing  Link,  between  vertebrates 

and  invertebrates,  173. 

to  the  Panama  Canal  Zone,  247,    Mixed  infections,  how  they  com- 
254.  plicate  the  work  of  the  immuni- 

Members,  the  restoration  of  lost,       zator,  218. 

153.  Mizar,  its  complex  system,  98. 

Mendel,  Gregor,  his  life  and  work,    Molecules,  of  salt,  in  a  solution, 


system  of  alleged  canals,  87; 
Professor  Maunder's  curious 
test  of  its  canal  system,  88. 

Maskelyne,  British  Astronomer 
Royal,  used  plumb  line  method 
to  test  the  earth's  mass,  63. 

Mastering  the  microbe,  Chapter 
7,  208. 

Maunder,  Professor  E.  Walter, 
discusses  the  habitable  planets, 
85;  makes  curious  test  to  de- 
termine the  nature  of  the  canals 
of  Mars,  88;  his  estimates  of 
the  possible  habitability 
Venus,  90. 

Maury,  Miss,  discovers  spectro- 
scopic  binaries,  95. 

Maxwell,  J.  Clerk,  his  studies  of 
electro-magnetism,  306. 

Mears,  Dr.  J.  E.,  report  of  a  visit 


191. 

Mendelian  heredity,  applied  to 
human  beings,  200;  and  human 
eyes,  201. 

Mendelism,  the  new  theory  of, 
190 ;  its  rediscovery  and  rapid 
progress,  195. 

Mendel's  law  of  the  transmission 
of  unit  characters,  193;  as  il- 
lustrated by  Prof.  Punnett,  194 ; 
examples  of  its  practical  ap- 
plication, 195;  a  simple  formula 
to  illustrate,  196. 

Mercury,  its  mass  about  1/33  that 
of  the  earth,  85 


102 ;  their  action  in  solution  in 
producing  osmosis  according  to 
the  theory  of  Van't  Hoff,  103. 

Moon,  the  origin  of  its  craters, 
16;  how  it  is  weighed,  66;  is  of 
such  size  as  materially  to  affect 
the  earth's  motion,  69. 

Morgan,  Professor  T.  H.,  his 
experiments  in  growing  new 
heads  on  decapitated  worms, 
151;  produces  a  two-headed 
earth  worm,  152 ;  treats  the  eggs 
of  a  fly  with  radium  to  produce 
mutants,  185. 


Metchnikoff,  Prof.  Elie,  discovers    Mosquito,   shown  by   Ross  to  be 
a  function  of  the  white  blood       the  carrier  of  malaria,  244. 


corpusles,   224. 


Moulton,  Prof.  T.  R.,  associated 


Meteorites,    as    fragments    of    an       with  Chamberlin  in  development 
original  nebula,  10.  of   planetesimal   theory,   8;   his 

336 


INDEX 


conclusions  throw  doubt  on  the  his   methood   of   tracing   blood 

nebular  hypothesis,  14.  relationship,  158. 

Mountain,  the  attraction  of,  used  Observatory,     Lick,     its     5-foot 

to  determine   the   mass   of   the  reflector  and  its  proposed  100- 

earth,  63.  inch  reflector,  34 ;  at  Mt.  Wilson, 

Mutants,  the  production  of,  184;  its  powerful  telescopes,  34;  the 

produced  by  chemical  and  other  Potsdam,    its    32-inch    lens    for 

treatment  of  eggs,  185.  star  photography,  37. 

Mutation,  the  new  theory  of,  180.  Optophone,    an    instrument    that 

Natural  selection,  evolution  thro',  makes  light  audible,  312. 

178.  Opsonic  Index,  a  test  of  immunity 

Nebulae,  shown  by  Keeler  to  be  discovered     by     Sir     Almroth 

very  abundant,  5;  their  appear-  Wright,  215. 

ance  and  probable  nature,  6,  7 ;  Opsonins,  their   development  and 

the  spiral  nebula  as  mother  of  use,  211;  how  their  presence  is 

worlds,  8 ;  their  origin,  17 ;  other  demonstrated,  214. 

than  spiral,  20 ;  Arrhenius'  the-  Osmosis,  the  theory  of  Van't  Hoff 

ory    of   their   origin,    21;    their  regarding,  103. 

destiny,    21;    as    tested   by   the  Ostracoderm,    an    extinct    form 

spectroscope,   21 ;    invisible,   25 ;  believed    by    Professor    Patton 

their    size,    26 ;    why   they    are  to  be  the  ancestor  of  the  verte- 

numerous,     26;     possibility     of  brate,  171. 

collision  with,   28;   ringed,   one  Ostwald,    Prof.    Wilhelm,    cham- 

that    may    be    seen    through    a  pions  the  ion  theory  of  Arrhe- 

small  telescope,  100.  nius,  103, 

Neon,    seemingly    formed    in    the  Otto,  Dr.  N.  A.,  develops  the  oil 

laboratory    in    a   vacuum    tube,  engine,  285. 

123.  Panama  Canal  Zone,  its  transfor- 

Neptune,    its    liquid    or    gaseous  mation,  246;  mortality  statistics, 
state,  10 ;  invisible  to  naked  eye, 
that 


34;     its    density    1.11    that    of 
water,  84. 
Nicholas,  Professor  E.  R,  invents 


248,  252 ;  the  work  of  Col.  Gor- 
gas  in  rendering  it  healthful 
affords  an  inspiring  object  les- 
son, 252. 


the  radiometer  with  G.  F.  Hull,    Parallax,  of  a   star,  how  tested, 


and  uses  it  to  measure  light 
pressure,  109;  measures  the  ra- 
diation of  stars  and  of  Saturn 
and  Jupiter,  111. 

Nobel  prize,  in  medicine,  given 
Dr.  Alexis  Carrel,  in  1912,  156; 
discoveries  that  have  been 
laureated  by,  321. 


45;  of  the  sun,  cannot  be  de- 
termined with  accuracy  by  direct 
measurement,  74;  of  Mars  and 
Eros  used  as  an  aid  in  determin- 
ing the  sun's  distance,  75. 
Park,  Dr.  Francis  E.,  reports  on 
the  use  of  thorium  X,  235. 


Noguchi,  Dr.  Hideyo,  discovers  Park>  Dr-  Wm-  H->  reports  on  in- 

germ  of  rabies,  234.  fant    mortality    due    to    impure 

Nott,  Dr.,  first  suggested  that  the  milk>  243- 

mosquito  transmits  yellow  fever,  Parseval,  Major  von,  invents  and 

248.  develops    a    non-rigid    dirigible 

Nuttall,  Dr.  G.  H.  F.,  studies  balloon,  289;  designs  an  in- 
tropical  diseases  and  develops  a  genious  ballonet,  to  ballast  his 
remedy  for  cattle  plague,  245;  airship,  290, 

337 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 


Parthenogenesis,  natural  and  ar- 
tificial, 145. 

Patton,  Professor  William,  his 
theory  of  the  arachnid  origin  of 
the  vertebrate,  170. 

Patterson,  Professor  H.,  observes 
the  seeming  formation  of  he- 
lium and  neon  in  the  laboratory, 
122. 

Pearson,  Prof.  Karl,  his  work*  in 
heredity,  199. 

Pendulum,  used  to  test  the  mass 
of  the  earth,  61. 

Perrine,  Prof.  C.  D.,  discovers 
two  new  moons  of  Jupiter,  13. 

Perseus,  the  new  star  in,  and  what 
it  revealed,  25. 

Pfeiffer,  Prof.  R.,  gave  clue  to 
the  vaccine  method,  209. 

Pfund,  Professor  A.  H.,  invents 
a  thermal  couple  more  than  10 
times  as  sensitive  as  the  radiom- 
eter, ill. 

Phoebe,  the  anomalous  satellite  of 
Saturn,  10;  revolves  in  reverse 
direction;  influence  of  this  fact 
on  theory  of  world  origins,  11. 

Photography,  its  great  aid  to  the 
astronomer,  37. 

Pickering,  Professor  W.  H.,  dis- 
covers Phoebe,  a  new  satellite 
of  Saturn,  10. 

Pictures  sent  by  wire  and  by  wire- 
less, 314. 

Plague,  cattle,  transmitted  by 
ticks,  245. 

Plague,  the  Asiatic,  disseminated 
by  the  house  rat,  249. 

Plagues,  banishing  the,  Chapter 
VIII,  222. 

Planarian,  the,  used  in  biological 
experiments  to  show  the  re- 
generation of  parts,  151. 

Planetoids,  used  by  Sir  David 
Gill  to  determine  the  sun's  dis- 
tance, 77. 

Planetesimal  theory,  developed  by 
Professors)  Chamberlin  and 
Moulton,  8 ;  solves  many  puzzles, 
14. 


Planets,  how  they  are  weighed, 
81 ;  the  outer  ones,  except  Mars, 
far  less  dense  than  the  earth, 
no  one  of  them  being  as  dense 
as  the  sun,  84;  are  they  in- 
habited, 85;  the  great  outlying 
ones  are  uninhabitable,  86. 

Pleiades,  a  group  showing  the  pro- 
cess of  star  formation,  22. 

Plumb  line,  used  to  test  the  mass 
of  the  earth,  62. 

Plummer,  Mr.  H.  C.,  independ- 
ently discovered  the  two  gi- 
gantic star  streams,  57. 

Police  Court,  its  debt  to  the  lab- 
oratory, 159. 

Poynting,  Professor  J.  H.,  made 
delicate  tests  of  the  earth's  mass 
with  the  balance,  65. 

Proper  motion  of  stars,  how 
tested,  41. 

Protozoal  germs  cause  sleeping 
sickness,  230;  cause  malaria  and 
other  diseases,  244. 

Punnett,  Prof.  R.  G.,  his  illustra- 
tion of  Mendelian  heredity,  194 ; 
his  Mendelian  experiments  with 
the  barnyard  fowl,  197. 

Rabbits,  used  to  develop  test 
fluids  for  determining  blood 
relationship,  161. 

Radiation  pressure,  its  influence 
on  the  movements  of  cosmic 
particles,  51;  see  also  "Light 
pressure." 

Radiation,  a  new  type  of,  113. 

Radioactive  substances,  the  alpha, 
beta  and  gamma  rays  explained, 
113. 

Radiopes,  developed  by  Mr.  Burke 
in  test  tube  with  radium,  239. 

Radiometer,  invented  by  Prof. 
Crookes  and  perfected  by  Prof. 
E.  F.  Nichols  and  G.  F.  Hull, 
109;  measures  the  pressure  of 
light,  110. 

Radium,  discovered  by  Professor 
and  Madame  Curie,  113;  used 
to  count  the  atoms,  116 ;  gives 
off  substance  that  becomes 


338 


INDEX 


helium  gas,  116;  and  life,  234;    Rutherford,  Professor  Ernest,  the 

its  effect  on  the  blood,  237.  foremost  investigator  of  radio- 

Radium    Institute,    established    in       active  phenomena,  113;  how  he 

London,  234.  counts  the  atoms,   116,   118. 

Ramsay,  Sir  William,  protagonist    Salvarsan,  discovered  by  Ehrlich 

of  the  new  alchemy,  122 ;  thinks       in    1910,    223 ;    a    specific    for 

the  transmutation  of  lead  into       syphilis,  230. 

gold  a  possibility,  125.  Satellites,  as  a  rule  have  less  than 

one-thousandth  the  mass  of 
their  primaries,  68;  their  dis- 
tance and  speed  of  revolution 
used  to  test  the  mass  of  their 
primaries,  81;  if  the  nearest 
star  had  them,  they  could  not 


Rat,  the,  as  a  disseminator  of  the 
plague  or  "black  death,"  249. 

Recessive  characters  as  interpreted 
by  Mendel,  193. 

Relationship,  between  different 
tribes  of  animals,  traced  by 
Professor  Nuttall,  157. 


be  seen  from  the  earth,  91. 


Restoring   lost   members,   sponta-    Saturn,  its  liquid  or  gaseous  state, 


10 ;  its  retrograde  moon,  Phoebe, 
11;  its  density  only  0.72  that 
of  water,  84;  its  thermal  effect 
measured  by  Professor  Nichols, 
111. 


neous  with  lower  organisms, 
154;  achieved  with  dogs  by 
Dr.  Alexis  Carrel,  155. 
Reynolds,  Professor  Osborne,  his 
theory  of  the  composition  of  the 
ether,  136;  his  explanation  of  Saubermann,  Dr.,  experiments 
gravitation  and  of  electricity  with  radium  as  cure  for  hard- 
and  magnetism,  139.  ened  arteries,  235. 

Richardson,  Professor  B.  W.,  Schandinn,  with  Hoffmann,  the 
shows  that  electrons  flow  along  discoverer  of  the  germ  of  Syphi- 
a  conductor,  131.  lis,  234. 

Ritchey,  Professor  G.  W.,  makes  Schiaparelli,  G.  V.,  first  observed 
wonderful  photographs  with  the  canals  of  Mars,  89;  thinks 
the  5-foot  reflector  at  Mt.  Wil-  that  Venus  presents  the  same 
son,  38.  face  always  to  the  sun,  90. 

Roche,  estimates  that  stellar  bod-    Schlick,  Dr.  Otto,  uses  gyroscope 
ies  will  explode  if  they  approach       to  stabilize  a  ship,  266. 
each  other  within  2,y2  radii,  18;    Scorpions,    their    relation    to    the 
"Roche's    limit"    as    applied   to       probable  ancestor  of  man,  176. 

Sea  Urchin,  its  eggs  developed 
without  fertilization  by  Profes- 
sor Loeb,  144;  its  embryo  bi- 
sected, and  two  individuals 
produced,  147. 

See,  Professor  T.  J.  J.,  his  cap- 
ture theory  of  satellites,  15. 

'n~<T  match  Tor""modern  "instru"-   Selandia,   a   steamless   steamship, 
ments,   33.  279  '>  operated  by  Diesel  engines, 

280;   its   equipment  and   opera- 
tion, 283. 

Selection,  the  key  to  all  experi- 
ment in  plant  breeding,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Burbank,  187. 


Beta  Lyrae,   100. 

Rosanoff,  Dr.  A.  J.,  studies  of  in- 
sane families  (with  Dr.  Can- 
non,) 206. 

Ross,  Dr.  Ronald,  demonstrates 
that  the  mosquito  transmits  ma- 
laria, 244. 

Rosse,  Lord,  his  six  foot  reflector, 


Rous,  Dr.  Peyton,  his  experiments 
in  transplanting  cancer  in  ani- 
mals, 232. 

Russ,  Dr.  S.,  tests  the  effect  of 
radium  on  the  blood,  237. 

339 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 


Selenium,  its  curious  properties 
illustrated  by  Mr.  Hammer, 
313 ;  its  use  in  sending  pictures 
by  wire,  315. 

Sheep,  a  hornless  race  developed 
along  Mendelian  lines,  197. 

Ships,  steadied  at  sea  by  the 
gyroscope,  266. 


Sperry,  Mr.  Elmer  A.,  perfects 
the  gyro-compass,  265 ;  applies 
the  gyroscope  to  the  stabilizing 
of  ships,  269;  uses  the  gyro- 
scope to  stabilize  the  airship, 
276. 

Sphinthariscope,  invented  by  Pro- 
fessor Crookes;  used  to  make 
the  impact  of  atoms  visible,  118. 


used  in  testing  the  double  stars, 
96;  its  most  delicate  feats  sur- 
passed by  the  electroscope,  115. 
Spectroscopic  binaries,   how   they 
are  weighed,  93 ;  first  discovered 
by  Miss  Maury  at  Harvard  Ob- 
servatory, 1889,  95 ;  their  periods 
of  revolution,  97. 
Side-Chain    theory    of    Professor    Spectrum,    the    Zeeman    effect    as 

Ehrlich,  225.  revealed   in,    104;    light  beyond 

Siedentopf,  developer  of  the  ultra-       the  visible,  106. 

microscope,    232. 
Sirius,  a  binary  having  more  than 

three    times    the    mass    of    the 

sun,  93. 
Sleeping     sickness,     a     tentative 

remedy   discovered   by   Ehrlich, 

230. 
Smith,    Dr.    Theobald,    discovers 

that  ticks  transmit  cattle  plague, 

245.  Star  clusters,  their  shape  and  lo- 

Sodium,    its    spectral    lines    and       cation,  23, 

what  they  reveal,  104.  Stars,  the  life  history  of,  23;  ex- 

Solar  system,  as  explored  by  an       amples  of  white,  23 ;   examples 

imaginary  aviator,   29;    its  iso- 
lation  in    space,    32;    seemingly 

not  far  from  the  center  of    the 

universe,  58. 
Solar     constant,     determined     by 

Professor    C.    G.    Abbott,    and 

shown  to  be  in  reality  a  vari- 
able, 108. 
Solution,  of  common  salt,  its  true 

character,  102. 
Species,  the  creation  of,  Chapter 

VI,    170. 

Specifics,  the  search  for,  228. 
Spectrograph,  used  by   Professor 

Campbell    to    test    star    speeds, 

47. 
Spectroheliograph,     reveals    com- 


position of  sun's  atmosphere,  37. 
Spectroscope,  its  analysis  of  nebu- 
lae, 21;  its  analysis  of  stars, 
23 ;  used  by  Huggins  in  astrono- 
my in  1863,  33;  its  revelations 
of  the  movements  of  stars,  36; 
used  to  measure  the  earth's 
flight,  and  thereby  to  determine 
the  sun's  distance,  77;  the  slit, 

340 


of  red,  24;  their  cyclic  revolu- 
tion, 24;  the  new  star  in  Per- 
seus, 25,  27;  their  distances  in 
contrast  with  distances  in  the 
solar  system,  31;  of  the  20th 
magnitude,  revealed  by  Mt.  Wil- 
son reflector,  35 ;  their  radial 
motion  tested  by  the  spectro- 
scope, 36 ;  their  average  speed, 
39 ;  their  proper  motion  and 
their  seeming  shifts  of  posi- 
tion, 40;  their  speed  measured 
by  Professor  Kapteyn,  42 ; 
the  apparent  motion  of  our 
nearest  neighbor,  Alpha  Cen- 
tauri,  42 ;  how  their  distances 
and  speeds  are  measured,  44 ; 
testing  the  parallax  of,  45, 
46 ;  new  stars  move  slowly  and 
old  stars  rapidly,  48 ;  their  vary- 
ing speeds  at  different  ages 
tentatively  explained  by  Pro- 
fessor Campbell,  50 ;  many  that 
are  brighter  than  the  sun  are 
relatively  near;  some  are  100,- 
000  times  as  bright  as  the  sun, 


INDEX 


53;  clusters,  groups,  and 
streams,  54,  97;  the  group  of  the 
big  dipper  not  a  permanent  ar- 
rangement, 55;  the  two  great 
streams  discovered  by  Professor 
Kapteyn,  56 ;  how  they  are 
weighed,  91;  double,  discovered 
by  Sir  William  Herschel,  92; 
double,  their  change  of  mutual 
position  makes  it  possible  to 
calculate  their  mass,  93. 

Star  fish,  two  or  more  eggs  of, 
fused  to  form  a  single  embryo 
by  Professor  Loeb,  149. 

Star  groups,  some  interesting  ex- 
amples, 97. 

Stegomyia,  mosquitoes  of  this 
genus  transmit  yellow  fever, 
249. 

Stokes*  law,  utilized  in  the  count- 
ing of  electrons,  128. 

Struggle  for  existence,  illustrated 
in  its  application  to  evolution, 
179. 

Sub-marine  vessels,  their  inven- 
tion and  development,  287. 

Sun,  moves  at  a  rate  of  about 
12  ^  miles  per  second,  38;  the 
direction  of  its  flight ;  it  is  mov- 
ing toward  Vega  and  away  from 
Sirius,  43;  its  annual  flight  car- 
ries it  almost  double  the  diam- 
eter of  the  earth's,  44;  as  com- 
pared with  the  neighboring 
stars,  53 ;  how  it  is  weighed,  70 ; 
the  transit  of  Venus  method  of 
determining  its  size  not  satis- 
factory, 75 ;  its  parallax  cannot 
be  determined  with  accuracy 
from  direct  observations,  74;  its 
distance  determined  by  various 
methods,  72;  its  parallax  not 
far  from  8.807  seconds  and  its 
distance  known  within  about 
30,000  miles,  the  figure  being 
not  far  from  92,897,000  miles, 
80;  its  corona  explained  by  Ar- 
rhenius  as  due  to  light  pressure, 
112. 


Sun  spots,  shown  by  Professor 
George  E.  Hale  to  have  magnet- 
ic fields  and  to  reveal  the  Zee- 
man  effect,  105. 

Syphilis,  a  specific  found  in  sal- 
varsan,  230 ;  the  germ  of,  dis- 
covered by  Schandinn  and  Hoff- 
mann, 234. 

Telautograph,  Professor  Korn's 
apparatus  for  sending  pictures 
by  wire,  316. 

Telectograph,  Mr.  Baker's  appara- 
tus for  sending  pictures  by  wire 
and  by  wireless,  316. 

Telegraph,  the  wireless,  305. 

Telescope,  the  largest  examples, 
33;  revelations  of  small  and 
large,  35;  the  Mt.  Wilson  re- 
flector reveals  stars  of  20th  mag- 
nitude, 35;  the  Paris  refractor 
the  biggest  of  its  type,  33. 

Thomson,  Sir  J.  J.,  explains  the 
seeming  transmutation  of  ele- 
ments in  the  laboratory,  124; 
finds  a  new  substance  apparent- 
ly having  atomic  weight  3,  pos- 
sibly a  new  element,  124;  his 
estimate  of  the  activities  of  the 
electron,  130;  his  theory  that 
the  electron  is  the  source  of 
ether  waves  constituting  radiant 
energy,  133;  his  estimate  of  the 
density  of  the  ether,  and  of  the 
porous  character  of  matter,  135. 

Thompson,  Dr.  Wm.  H.,  his  esti- 
mate of  vaccine  therapy,  209. 

Thorium  X,  its  physiological  and 
remedial  effects,  235. 

Tidal  influence,  as  determining 
the  shape  of  nebulae,  18. 

Time  and  Space,  the  conquest  of, 
Chapter  X,  279. 

Tissues,  living,  grown  outside  the 
body  by  Drs.  Harrison,  Carrel, 
and  Burrows,  165. 

Top,  working  wonders  with  a, 
Chapter  IX.  255. 

Tower,  Prof.  W.  L.,  his  experi- 
ments with  the  eggs  of  beetles, 
185. 


341 


MIRACLES    OF    SCIENCE 


Toxins  and  antitoxins,  how  ex- 
plained by  side-chain  theory, 
227. 

Transmutation  of  elements,  seem- 
ingly effected  in  the  laboratory 
by  Ramsay,  iCollie,  and  Pat- 
terson, 122 ;  explanation  of  the 
phenomenon  by  Sir  J.  J.  Thom- 
son, 124. 

Tropical  diseases,  studied  at  Cam- 
bridge by  Dr.  Nuttall,  244. 

Tropical  fevers,  the  conquest  of, 
248. 

Trypanosome,  the  protozoal  germ 
that  causes  sleeping  sickness, 
230. 

Tuberculin,  Koch's  discredited 
remedy  shown  to  be  of  value, 
216. 

Turner,  Professor  Arthur  B.,  de- 
scribes the  complications  that 
attend  the  measurement  of  the 
sun's  parallax  by  the  spectro- 
scopic  method,  79. 

Typhoid  fever,  the  inoculation 
against,  213;  losses  due  to,  es- 
timated by  Dr.  Kober,  214;  a 
scourge  that  is  controlled  by 
Wright's  vaccine,  251. 

"Typhoid  fly,"  its  banishment 
from  the  Panama  Canal  Zone, 
250. 

Uhlenroth,  Professor,  his  blood 
tests,  160. 

Ultra-microscope,  developed  by 
Zsigmondy  and  Siedentopf ,  232 ; 
possibly  reveals  hitherto  un- 
recognized germs,  233. 

Unit  characters,  according  to  Men- 
del, 193. 

Universe,  Charting  the,  Chapter 
II,  29. 

Universe,  stellar,  its  magnitude, 
31;  the  scheme  of,  57;  it  may 
have  the  structure  of  a  vast 
spiral  nebula,  58. 

Uranium,  discovered  by  Henri 
Becquerel,  113. 

Uranus,    its    liquid    or    gaseous 


state,  10;  invisible  to  the  naked 
eye,  34;  its  density  1.22  that  of 
water,  84, 

Vaccine  Therapy,  estimated  by 
Sir  Almroth  Wright,  208;  as 
developed  by  Wright,  209;  es- 
timated by  Dr.  Thompson,  209; 
its  principles  and  application, 
210;  the  explanation  of  its  effi- 
ciency, 211. 

Vaccine,  anti-typhoid,  originally 
used  in  South  African  war,  now 
universally  employed,  213;  used 
as  a  curative  remedy,  219. 

Vaccines  and  microbes,  208. 

Vaniman,  his  ill-fated  attempt  to 
make  a  transoceanic  aerial  voy- 
age, 291. 

Van't  Hoff,  J.  H.,  his  theory  of 
osmosis,  103. 

Variation,  spontaneous,  usually  in- 
explicable, 184;  the  basis  of  the 
origin  of  favored  races,  181. 

Vega,  is  approaching  us,  but  is  3*5 
light  years  distant,  43;  will  be 
our  pole  star,  12,000  years  from 
now,  56 ;  its  thermal  effect  meas- 
ured by  Professor  Nichols,  111. 

Venus,  observation  of  its  transit 
not  a  reliable  method  of  meas- 
uring the  sun's  parallax,  75 ;  its 
mass  about  8/10  that  of  the 
earth,  85;  the  question  of  its 
habitability,  90 ;  its  period  of  ro- 
tation seemingly  determined  by 
De  Vico,  90;  its  rotation  period 
claimed  by  Schiaparelli  to  coin- 
cide with  its  year,  90. 

Vertebrates,  the  arachnid  theory 
of  their  origin,  as  expounded  by 
Professor  Patton,  170. 

Vogel,  discovered  .first  spectro- 
scopic  binary,  96. 

Vries,  Prof.  Hugo  de,  of  Amster- 
dam, his  theory  of  mutation, 
182;  discovery  of  Mendel  by, 
195. 

Warship,  the  U.  S.  S.  Warden 
stabilized  by  the  Sperry  gyro- 
scope, 269. 


342 


INDEX 


Wassermann,    Professor   A.   von, 

his   tentative   cancer   cure,   167, 

231. 
Water,    its   purification   with   the 

ultraviolet  ray,  242. 
Weighing  the  worlds,  -Chapter  III, 

60. 
Wellman,  Mr.,  makes  attempt  to 

fly  across  the  ocean  in  his  dirig- 
ible balloon,  291. 
Wireless  telegraph,  305. 
Wireless  telephone,  developed  by 

De  Forest,  310. 
Wireless  transmission  of  pictures, 

317. 
Wonders   of   the   modern   world, 

seven  chief,  323. 

Wood,   Prof.   T.   B.,   his   experi- 
ments   in    Mendelian    heredity 

with  sheep,  197. 
Warden,  the  U.   S.  S.,  stabilized 

by  the  Sperry  gyroscope,  269. 
Working    wonders    with    a    top, 

'Chapter  IX,  255. 
World,  has  it  turned  upside  down  ? 

12. 
Worlds,  weighing  the,  Chapter  II, 

00. 
Wright,  Sir  Almroth,  his  estimate 

of    vaccine    therapy,    208;    his 


discovery  of  opsonins  and  the 
opsonic  index,  215;  extends 
the  vaccine  method  to  many 
diseases,  216;  his  clinics  at  St. 
Mary's  hospital,  220. 

Wright,  Wilbur  and  Orville,  in- 
ventors of  the  aeroplane;  first 
to  make  a  successful  flight,  297; 
the  devices  that  made  their  suc- 
cess possible,  298 ;  all  subsequent 
aeroplanes  built  on  principles 
developed  by  them,  299. 

X-ray,  liberates  ions  in  a  gas,  127. 

Yellow  fever,  transmitted  by  mos- 
quito of  the  genus  stegomyia, 
249. 

Young,  Charles  A.,  his  formula 
for  weighing  a  planet,  82. 

Zeeman  effect,  what  it  is,  104; 
shows  that  light  is  an  electric 
phenomenon,  105. 

Zeeman,  Professor  Peter,  his  dis- 
covery of  the  Zeeman  effect,  105. 

Zeppelin,  Count  von,  his  first 
dirigible  balloon,  288;  later 
types,  289;  his  passenger  air- 
ships, 293. 

Zsigmondy,  developer  of  ultra- 
microscope,  232. 


RETURN 


MAIN  CIRCULATION 


ALL  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  RECALL 
RENEW  BOOKS  BY  CALLING  642-3405 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

^CEIVED 

OCT  2  6  1995 

iHCULAftON  DEF 

DEC  05 

995 

FORM  NO.  DD6 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


YC  22534 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


